Only Enemies
by leave this world
Summary: In the aftermath of the Final battle a misplaced spell sends HP and Bellatrix to an alternative world. It holds everything each of them have lost to the war and yet they find themselves inexorably drawn back to each other. HPBella done right.
1. Prologue

Chapter 1:

Prologue

A mournful wind whipped across the empty, blasted landscape that only a few precious hours before had played host to finest the wizard world had to offer. It had been an act of desperation on both sides, an unspoken mutual agreement that the time had come to win or die. Neither side had considered that they might have the sincere misfortune of accomplishing both.

The two armies had met in the midst of the hills of Scotland. The whole of the surviving Order and Ministry against the vast legions the Dark Lord has built over the ten grueling years of war. For a long moment the two armies had simply stared at each other, seemingly in shock that the other side had actually materialized as promised. Then someone threw the first spell, a rather nasty piece of work which turned an unfortunate giant inside-out in a truly gruesome fashion.

It would have made a great story to tell the grandchildren, "Yes, I was the one who opened the final battle, the first righteous hand to bring the wrath of justice down upon the dark side." It would have that is if the auror who threw it had survived the first twenty three seconds of the battle.

After the first spell the battle degenerated into complete and utter chaos. No one knew who threw the second spell, indeed it is in severe doubt as to whether that honor did not belong to every single being on the field. The storm of spell fire that flew between the two armies was blinding in its intensity as both sides abandoned every convention of warfare in the urgent _need _To destroy the other.

The light side had learned their lesson the hard way in the first brutal years of the war, and the green predominated the battlefield on both sides as the unblockable killing curse took a murderous toll on the tightly packed ranks. From the rear ranks of both armies vast waves of energy surged back and forth, locked in an arcane duel far above the main conflict. The Dark Lord against the Headmaster, arch mage against inhuman monster.

For a full hour neither could gain the advantage as their grunts fought and died between them. Then, with an ancient Egyptian curse thought lost to the sands of time Voldemort broke the deadlock, sending the aging headmaster staggering back clutching his head in agony.

The momentary distraction was all the Dark Lord needed as he sent wave after wave of unholy energy down across the battlefield, sucking the life from everything in its path. It should have been the end of the battle then and there; the light side's moral broke at the onslaught and the forces of darkness surged forward, looking for the kill.

But, scarcely thirty seconds after Voldemort had triumphed over the Headmaster he was forced to release his battle magic, to turn away from his looming victory on the battlefield to gaze in horror at the sword protruding from between his shoulder blades. Had any vestige of humanity remained in his accursed form he would have simply dropped dead. But, he truly had achieved nearly immortality and, with a savage scream, he wrenched the blade out and turned to face the new threat.

Standing behind him, wands bared, were the two survivors of a trio that had thwarted him again and again over the years. One of them stood tall and thin, his six foot frame scarred from head to toe. Each mark had been dearly bought, each told the story of tens if not hundreds of death eaters killed in wild battle or cold assassination. The green eyes that stared out from above that battle-scarred body were cold and hard, hiding the tiny spark of life that still lurked within behind an indomitable mask.

The other was a short girl who towered at best a mere five foot three. Although she lacked the brutal scars of her companion, she was not wholly unmarked from the war, as one long thin line ran under each eye: tears of blood shed for the absent third who should have been standing by her that day.

Voldemort wasted no time in the nicety of words or bows, he too had learned his lesson throughout the war. He lashed out hard and fast with a wide arc acid curse to scatter his attackers before they could move to defend each other. Harry dove to the left and came up firing, a steady stream of lethal and crippling curses spewing forth from his wand. Hermione on the other hand didn't bother to move as she wordless conjured a wall of steel to absorb the attack. She banished its remains back at the Dark Lord with deadly velocity.

The Dark Lord dodged and ducked with amazing agility for a man who moments before had been cleanly run through, avoiding the curses and steel as he returned fire with deadly abandon.

On and on the duel raged, as the sun slowly began to set and armies's weary survivors continued to kill each other. Finally, the Dark Lord gained an advantage as, in an incredible display of magic he froze time for the blink of an eye. It was enough, not for him to kill his prophecied opponent, but to at least fact him one on one.

The killing curse connected with Hermione a half second before she even knew it had been cast, sending her hurtling backwards with an empty, lost look already filling her eyes. The was a sickening silence for a moment as Harry locked his gaze on the Dark Lord in redoubled hatred before he leapt back into the duel.

It soon reached a level of savagery nearly unmatched in history as two of the most brilliant sorcerers to ever lived broke every rule of magic. The very fabric of reality seemed to shred about them as more and more raw power flew through the air.

Finally, in a wholly unexpected move Harry simply dropped his wand and hurled himself at Voldemort, tackling the Dark Lord to the ground. The struggled for an endless moment before Harry managed to wandlessly summon one of the daggers he always stashed on his person. Again and again it plunged down, until, at last, even the Dark Lord's near immortal frame gave way before the assault.

Even as Harry sobbed in relief and grief at his triumph and loss a far different scene was taking place across the battlefield. The light side had not been the only one who sent their best and deadliest out head hunting. Bellatrix and Lucius had come searching for Potter and Albus. The had found only the Headmaster, which was just as well Lucius reflected as he narrowly avoided being transfigured into a cabbage.

Bellatrix did not share her companions relief as she cast her gaze about angrily for some sign of Potter. They had clashed more than anyone throughout the course of the war, and it had become deadly personable long ago. First she had killed her cousin, his godfather. He had retaliated by taking her husband and his brother from her. She in turn had countered savagely three years latter, murdering one of the Golden Trio in an ambush.

From there bad blood had become a pitiful understatement. Often it seemed that they no longer fought the war, the simply fought to hurt each other. Every friend, every companion and even pet of the other fell one by one. Avery then Snape then Susan then... the list was endless.

Over the course of their endless conflicts they had come to know each other as well as they knew themselves. Every trick, every movement, every thought and feeling was impossible to hide from the other. They could duel each other with eyes closed and the only one to take a wound would be anyone dumb enough to get in the way.

Still, if she could not have Potter she could remove one of the last two people in the world close to him, Bellatrix thought as she used the rather unfortunate transfiguration of Lucius into a popsicle as a distraction to flank the old man.

Her saw her movements, but it was a fraction of a second too late to dodge the wordless curse she hurled at him. The Headmaster staggered at the force of the dark cutting hex, before falling to the ground, exhausted and bleeding.

Bellatrix was about to finish the job when she felt her Dark Mark pulse once with unimaginable agony, before disappearing. It was impossible. Unthinkable. The Dark Lord was too strong, he was her's! The one thing she had that not even Potter could destroy! No! It could not be.

Yet the evidence was there, staring her in the face. He was dead. Her lord. And there was only one man who could have done it. Bellatrix thought, her vision gone red as she forgot the crippled form of the Headmaster lying at her feet. Potter must be there. He must pay. He must die this time!

Sweeping her gaze across the horizon Bellatrix finally found the hill in the distance where the Dark Lord had set up camp at the beginning of the battle. Potter had to be there. She thought as she apparated straight through the wards that lay across the battlefield

As soon as Bellatrix had left the Headmaster raised his head and looked out over the battlefield with a groan. Not a single being stirred, the armies had wiped each other out.

Albus knew he was dying, knew that this world was already dead. As he gazed out over the battlefield a strange resolve gripped him. If Harry somehow had survived the battle he could not be left behind in a world like this. A world broken by war, and marked only by death.

No, the Headmaster thought as he gathered the last of his dying strength, he would send Harry and Hermione if they both still lived away form this hell hole. He would give them a new start, a second chance. Slowly the Headmaster chanted in a long forgotten tongue, its harsh syllables slipping past his slowly failing mouth as he gathered the last of his energy to open a rift with just enough power to send two people to a better place.


	2. New World, Old Enemy

Chapter 2:

New World, Old Enemy

Harry was broken from his mourning by the harsh crack of someone apparating in directly behind him. Spinning with reflexes born out of all the endless years of war he found his green gaze locked on a pair of malevolent purple eyes.

His wand was moving to form a glowing golden dome before his conscious mind even had time to protest that this should be over. That the Dark Lord was dead! He was supposed to finally have time to rest to grieve! But, no! As ever, Bellatrix had to show up and ruin his life.

His golden dome held for a moment before caving. against the onslaught from the last of the living Death Eaters, Lucius having melted into a stick pool about a minute ago. By the time the shield had dropped Harry was already moving, setting up a new shield and returning fire. Bellatrix's wand followed Harry's movements almost casually, she knew where he was going, left and slightly down when confronted by that particular fire pattern.

Harry for his part also had little trouble keeping his wand fast on Bellatrix, she always dodged left when confronted by the bone-shredding hex when it was presented in conjunction with a basic stunner. The two of them traded barrages for a long, and futile minute as both danced around each other with ease born of long practice.

Unnoticed by the two combatants a small hole in reality had begun to form in the sky above them. It grew steadily larger as they fought, its inky darkness laced with intermittent bolts of pure energy that would arc across its surface quick as the eye could follow, only to vanish a half second later.

"This is the end Bella! Do you really think you can stand up to me now? I just killed your dear Dark Lord! Next to him you are nothing." Harry taunted as he rolled under a lung-burning curse.

"Funny Potter, but I was about to say the same, though I must confess to needing to replace 'Dark Lord' with 'Old Man.'" Bellatrix shot right back as she leaned back to avoid a very illegal throat crushing curse, though, since the whole of the ministry was lying dead on the field its legality was probably no longer an issue.

"Murderous Bitch." Harry spat in frustration.

"Well that seems to be the pot calling the cauldron black don't you think Potter? I must confess I'm a little disappointed by your lack of creativity; last time we met you called me such sweet things."

"My apologies dear Bella, but I guess your sister just provided better material than old Tommy." Harry shot back as he unleashed a conjured swarm of gigantic fire ants against Bellatrix.

She let out a growl of pure hatred at the that, remembering only too well fighting in the ruins of Malfoy manner the week before. It had seemed that by some miracle the last of her family might just survive the war. The wards around the manor house were nigh on impenetrable, and the fighting had moved far away from it

It was not to be however, as Potter conveniently decided he needed access to several of the dark tombs that resided in the Malfoy family collection. Since there was no library cards to be had, Potter had ordered the manor leveled to the ground. The last of the Malfoy's had died inside, trapped under thousand of tons of rock.

Taking advantage of her momentary distraction Harry aimed his wand at the ground and caused it to erupt beneath her feet. Bellatrix let out a scream of surprise as she was hurled bodily in the air, narrowly missing the growing rift.

As Harry's gaze tracked upward to find his now airborne foe it came to rest on the rift. He had no idea where it came from, maybe some temporal distortion due to the fulfilment of the prophecy. In any case it did not look like something that would treat Bella very well.

Meanwhile airborne, similar thoughts were rushing through Bellatrix's head. Who knew what the rift was, but she'd be damned if those bolts of energy rippling across it didn't look like they'd tear the overly self-righteous Potter to pieces.

As one they both reached out their wands and cast the summoning spell at each other. They had a moment to start in surprise as they felt the force of their magic hurl them both towards the rift at insane speeds. They both crashed into it from opposite sides, vanishing withing the turmoil of energy. The rift pulsed slightly as it absorbed them both before winking out of existence, its two-person purpose fulfilled.

Passing through the rift was one of the strangest experiences Harry had ever had, and, given his rather eventful past that was certainly saying something. He spiraled through a strange, ribbed tunnel made of flashes of energy. Next to him, and still throwing curses for all she was worth, was Bella.

Harry countered in turn, shielding himself, since any coherent form of movement was nearly impossible. Fortunately for both combatants, the insane tumbling of the rift also made aiming an exercise in futility and the killing curses that both shot dissipated harmless yards away from their intended targets.

It came as a great shock to Bellatrix when she was rudely deposited on the ground. The soft green grass underneath her taking the sting out of the five foot fall. Harry fell out of the rift a moment latter and, using his seeker reflexes, somehow managed to land on his feet. His advantage was short lived though as Bella wandlessly banished herself straight at his knees, sending them both to the ground in a tumble of limbs.

They both wandlessly summoned knives as they fought, their physical duel no less practiced than its magical counterpart. Bella kicked a knife out of Harry's hand even as he pinned her left wrist and knocked a dagger from its numb grip. Over and over they tumbled, each seeking an advantage the other was far to wise to give until, finally, Harry planted both his feet against Bellatrix and shoved himself away from her.

Bella rose to her feet immediately, summoning her wand from the ground as she moved. For one moment they both glared at each other, wands drawn and eyes locked in hatred, before the duel began once again in earnest.

Harry had no idea how long they fought, as the minutes blurred together in one endless dance of death. This was the true last battle of the war, the fight that mattered to each of them. Tom's death had been a matter of prophecy, Albus's of strategy. This was vengeance, plain and simple.

Unforgivables and dark curses flew back and forth in endless deluges as they unleashed the last of their reserves against each other. The very air itself around them became blackened and foul as the spillover of dark magic tainted everything around them.

Harry and Bellatrix had just exchanged a series of nasty bludgeoning hexs that had been developed near the end of the middle ages to bring down the walls of castles, when a multitude of pops echoed around them. Neither combatant paid them the slightest heed, everyone had long ago learned not to interfere in their duels: Bystanders had an unfortunate habit of falling victim to the curses the two of them so expertly dodged.

Harry was just about to unleashed a particularly favored curse of his, the leg-vanisher, when he felt a stunner impact into his back. Normally, one would think this would be a disastrous occurrence for our green-eyed friend, but then again, one would be mistaken.

The way a stunner works is it sends a powerful pulse of energy into the mind that overloads the conscious mind and forces the victim to pass out. The problem with this particular method is that masters of Occlumency can easily deflect the attack with their mental shields unless there is a huge amount of power behind it.

Harry was, fortunately, more than a master of that discipline and turned back the stunner with almost no effort. He might even have been able to gain an advantage from the situation if Bellatrix hadn't been similarly protected, as a stunner hit her at nearly the same moment.

"Halt! You are both to drop your wands and submit to arrest for the use of dark and unforgivable curses." A commanding voice rang out from behind Harry.

As one Harry and Bella froze; looked at each other; and fell to the ground laughing. Helpless mirth poured out from Bellatrix as she pounded her fist on the ground. She hadn't laughed outside of the odd sadistic giggle in years, but this was simply too funny. These idiots not only had the audacity to interfere in _her _duel with the ever-surviving Potter, but they were going to arrest her? And even better they were going to arrest _Him?_

Meanwhile Harry was in no better shape, though his laughter had a slightly hysterical edge to it. It was truly too much, he had just killed the greatest Dark Lord in history, been flung through some strange rift with his arch-enemy and now some idiots who couldn't throw a real stunner wanted to arrest them? He was tempted to stand aside and simply let Bella play with them, she could be quite creatively cruel.

The voice was clearly not amused by their behavior as it shouted at them once again, "This is your last warning! Drop your wands and stand up slowly or we will be compelled to resort to force!"

Again Harry and Bella's eyes met and they laughed even harder, tears coming to both their eyes at the sheer absurdity of the situation. Bella managed to gasp out between great burst of laughter, "Never...A... dull moment...around you...Potter."

"Don't blame me for this!" Harry chocked out, "I don't know these idiots!"

The voice obviously took great offense at their dialog and screamed out, "Subdue them men!"

"_Stupefy!_" Was screamed in answer by at least a dozen voices. Bellatrix simply shook her head, how had these idiots survived the war? Speaking a curse as simple as the stunner? The only curse that anyone with half a brain bothered to say was the killing curse, as it couldn't be cast otherwise.

Harry was likewise baffled as he recovered from his mirth enough to throw up a wordless golden dome that, by reflex born of protecting those near to him, covered Bella as well. The spells bounced harmlessly off his shield, not even causing the powerful barrier to flicker in protest.

Slowly Harry and Bellatrix rose to their feet and regarded the men around them with bemused expressions. There were fourteen of them, all clearly clad in the uniforms the aurors wore before they had been turned into an army instead of a police force.

Standing slightly behind the Aurors was a man who looked shockingly familiar to Harry, Kingsley Shacklebolt. Harry turned to Bellatrix in confusing, "Bella, did you happen to hit me with some odd delusion curse?"

"Sadly not Potter, you summoned the Dark Lord's skull to block it if memory serves." Bellatrix shot back with a pout, "A pity you did too, it was a nightmare one, of the Sumerian variety; I think it had something to do with being devoured by a dragon."

"No, not if it was Sumerian," Harry answered absently as he continued to study the Aurors around them, "That one is Egyptian."

"No, no your wrong Potter, useless without that mudblood at your back I swear; the Egyptian one is asp-centric, believe me I know."

"Don't you dare talk about Hermione that way you bitch!." Harry snarled.

"Touchy Potter, does her ickle death hurt?" Bella whined in her baby voice as she continued to watch the aurors try to break through Harry's shield.

Harry didn't even bother to respond verbally as he instead grabbed one of his knives and tired to stab Bellatrix in the chest. Bella easily met the blow before it had traveled half the distance between them, trapping it with her dagger.

"Its rude to stab family Potter, especially Ladies." She taunted, shaking her free hand at him mockingly.

"Don't you dare lecture me about family, the only reason we are related is because you had the gall to kill your own!"

"That blood traitor hardly counts as family." Bella threw back airily, not expecting to get a real response; after ten years even the emotional powder keg that was Potter became less sensitive to old wounds.

Harry flicked her off with his free hand, as he twisted his dagger free with the other and began to fight her while watching the aurors, "Answer me this Bella." He said as he parried a slash aimed at his kidney, "Did you kill Kingsley?"

"Nearly five years ago Potter."

"Hmm, that's about what I thought. Though it does beg the question why he is standing out there."

"It does doesn't it." Bellatrix agreed amiably as she scored a small wound on his left wrist in exchange for one that snaked down her forearm, "Want me to eliminate the confusion for you?"

Harry was spared having to answer by his shield finally coming down to the combined force of blasting curses from all of the aurors. One of the aurors had the misfortune of deciding to press the assault as he shot a body bind curse at Bella and Harry.

Seeing the spell hurtling towards them, they both responded on instinct; Bella rolled right and came up firing while Harry lunged left and rose to his feet with a brace of daggers already leaving his hand. The overly intrepid auror was struck by ten daggers and two killing curses in the span of two seconds as he foolishly did not move from the position from which he had attacked.

Seeing their comrade down the rest of the aurors sprung into action, launching stunners and body-binds at Harry and Bella. Once again, battle instincts honed through the years took over as the two of them moved in eerie harmony to decimate the aurors.

Bella had killed five of them in rapid succession with a series of dark curses, while Harry had taken down six with a combination of black magic and fire when Kingsley launched a wide-arc acid curse similar to the one Voldemort had employed against Harry.

The curse forced them both to duck and roll into each other to avoid a nasty acid burn. Back to back they both rose up to face the remaining enemies. The two remaining aurors and Kingsley spread out to surround the pair, circling them warily. Harry and Bella didn't bother to circle with them, more worried about each other. "Try not to stick your knife into anything I might need Bella, it would be a shame if I had to return the favor."

"Aww, ickle Potter wants his kidneys?" Bella drawled, while twirling her wand idly in her left hand.

"They have proven useful from time to time." Harry shot back, unconscious imitating Bella as he toyed with the Phoenix-feather wand in his right hand.

"Don't worry, their safe for the moment Potter, I owe you at lot more painful death than a simple knife in the back."

"Aye Bella." Harry shot back as the aurors attacked from all around them. The three who still remained seemed to be a cut above their dead fellows, as they attacked with borderline dark curses instead of pitiful stunners and body-binds.

Harry ducked under a breath-stopping hex, before reaching out lunging towards the aurors with a push off from Bella's right shoulder. Meanwhile Bella hadn't bothered to doge, simply dispelling the bone-breaking hex Kingsley sent against her. Not pausing to give the auror a chance to attack again Bella lunged to her left to cover the flank she knew that brat Potter would leave open after the mad rush that he had a remarkable tendency to use in response to mid-level dark curses from the right.

The auror Harry was facing fell back before his onrush, tripping over his own feet and making himself a remarkably easy target for the quick killing curse that ended his life. Not wasting any time Harry spun right to block an oncoming curse before ducking low and taking the man's head off in retaliation. Continuing his spin, Harry ignored the brief flash of light to left, Bella would be there to stop it, hopefully with her body.

Bellatrix did indeed stop the curse, though sadly with a dark shield instead of her skull, Harry noted absently as his wand spat death at this strange clone of Kingsley who had the utter gall to interrupt his duel with Bella. He was only mildly surprised to note that the exact same curse had left Bella's wand.

Kingsley, or the clone, Harry corrected himself mentally, was as good as ever. He managed to dodge both curses and even send a quick blast of power back in return. Harry's estimation of the man rose still further when he had the good sense to use the brief confusion generated by his blasting curse to activate a portkey and abandon the hopeless battle.

Bella quickly turned her attention back to the Boy -Wonder once the auror was gone, spinning to bring her wand to bear on him. They had been pushed closer together than either had realized in order to avoid the fallout from the blasting curse, a fact that became depressingly apparent as the two most deadly duelers in the world slammed face first into each other with a resounding crack.

"Bloody hell Bella, your skull is harder than Goyle's!"

"Your one to talk Potter, heaven's knows there's a reason you've survived so much blunt trauma to the head!" Bella spat back, rubbing her head in pain even as she pointed her wand directly between Potter's eyes.

Some would call such a position a tactical advantage of the highest order, and some would of course be right, save for the fact that Harry was returning the favor with interest. His wand was actually less than a centimeter from inflicting purely physical damage on Bellatrix's right eye.

The two glared at each other for another long moment before Bellatrix sighed in annoyance, "Stalemate again Potter."

Harry simply nodded his head slightly, with their wands this close attempting to kill the other was a truly suicidal gesture. The problem lay in the fact that only the killing curse was instantly lethal, and its need to be pronounced unfortunately telegraphed enough for the other to respond back if not in kind, then with something equally, and probably more painfully, lethal.

"Well what now Potter? We can't exactly count on the flow of battle to sweep us apart as usual." Bellatrix drawled as she locked her unblinking stare on his.

"We could always hope more of those incompetents show up." Harry offered helpfully while sticking his tongue out at Bella. If he could just get her to laugh...

Bellatrix didn't fall for the bait this time, laughing at Potter's antics had almost gotten her killed during the battle for control of the ground floor of the ministry. "I don't particularly think that would help Potter, even you could deal with those morons without shifting enough to let me kill you."

"We could always resort to seeing who collapse from hunger first." Harry offered helpfully, thinking back to the rather extensive meal he had eaten before the final battle.

"I refuse to get into a hunger contest with an orphan who was starved for years." Bella snarled viciously. She was disappointed to note, however, that not even a flicker of anger crossed Harry's features at the attack on his upbringing.

Silence fell on the pair after that as they stood still as statues, wands held unwaveringly. Nearly an hour passed before finally Bellatrix let out a growl of annoyance, "This is pathetic Potter, if one of us is finally going to off the other I'd rather not have it come down to who falls asleep first. We both do have reputations to uphold after all."

"Heaven's forbid that people only piss themselves at the sight of you instead of keeling over dead Bella." Harry shot back, "Still, this is getting rather old, and I am quite curious as to who that Kingsley look alike was. Oath truce?"

Bella considered it for a moment, an oath truce would protect both of them from each other for a set amount of time and allowed no loop holes. There really wasn't a reason not to go through with it; there was no way she was going to beat bloody Potter in a test of being stubborn, "Aye Potter. Time frame?"

"One day?"

"A full day?" Bellatrixed asked incredulously, expecting something more along the lines of a few hours at best.

"I do believe that's what I said Bella."

"Fine. A full day it is. I Bellatrix Black formerly Lestrange, do accept the offer of oath truce for the span of one day with Harry Potter."

"I Harry Potter hear Bellatrix Black, formerly Lestrange, and do accept her offer of oath truce and extend mine in return." Harry replied back, shivering as the ancient ritual magic surged around both of them, sealing the oath.


	3. Truce

Chapter 3

Truce

"Any idea where we are Potter?" Bella asked absently as she cleaned his blood off her dagger, it had a nasty habit of etching metal for some reason.

"The middle of a field." Harry drawled back as he healed the wound on his arm Bellatrix had caused with her dagger, flushing the slow poison she favoed from his system as he did so.

"I knew that Potter! I was hoping for something more along the lines of country, city; or at the very least world would do nicely."

"You are witch Bella, figure it out for yourself."

Bellatrix scowled at him for a moment before sullenly turning to do as he suggested. Her wand traced an intricate star-like pattern in the air as she spliced a quick combination of position spells together. "Potter we have a slight problem." Bellatrix said as she stared dumbstruck at the results of her spell.

"Aw, did Bella forget to pack her favorite torture toy?"

"Can it Potter. Truce or no truce I can still make your life miserable."

"I'd love to see you try." Harry shot back with an unconcerned laugh; the Oath truce had never been successfully breached and as strong and devious as Bellatrix maybe he sincerely doubted she would be the first.

Harry really should have know better after all these years of dealing with the insane Black; daring her to do something was not a good idea. Bella proved it a moment later with a smirk as she calmly walked over to him and pulled him to his feet. Staring at him for a moment she allowed a devilish smile to flash across her face before grabbing the back of his head and kissing him hard on the lips.

Harry was too stunned to react, standing their dumbly as his archenemy kissed him. Bella pulled away a second later with a manically satisfied look, "How does it feel Potter to kiss the one who killed your little red-headed friend, well I guess friends is more accurate, I lost count around three of them. Just think how they must be rolling over in the grave. I do look forward to seeing you try yo explain this to them in the afterlife."

Harry's only response was a feral growl as his hand clenched and unclenched around the hilt of his knife, the oath preventing him from simply drawing it and running her through. Finally regaining his composure a long moment latter harry spat back at Bellatrix, "Sorry to disappoint you Bella dear, but I doubt we're going to the same afterlife."

"Don't be too sure Potter. For all we know we might already be there."

"Botch the spell that badly? Even Neville never managed worse than an indication that the mountains of Idaho were Australia."

"For you information Potter I cast the spell perfectly, and it seems that we are in the exact same place and time as the end of the battle we just fought."

"That's impossible Bella, look at the grass! Look at the conspicuous lack of knee deep mounds of corpses!"

"If you don't believe me you are welcome to check for yourself oh god of magic." Bella drawled back at him with grim amusement. Harry snarled at her in response before drawing his wand and quickly performing the same star-shaped maneuver as Bella. What he saw caused him to scowl in frustration. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be possible. According to the spell they were in the exact spot where he had killed the Dark Lord less than an hour and a half before.

"Find something odd?" Bella asked with a smirk as she watched Harry's dumbstruck expression with amusement.

"Alright Bella you win, something very odd is definitely going on here. Any idea what this means?" Harry growled at his enemy, grudgingly conceding his ignorance. Magic theory had never been in strong point in school and that had not changed during the war. He could cast nearly any spell in the world mere seconds after seeing it preformed, but ask him the underlying principals and his only answer would be a quick communication charm to Hermione.

"That you look more lack-witted than usual with your mouth hanging open?" Bella snapped back, reveling in the growing look of fury on Harry's face, "Oh come on Potter, I'm not at your beck and call like that mudblood you used to keep around was."

"That little _mudblood_ was ten times the witch you, with all your pure, Black, blood will ever be Bella. You know its funny, if memory serves your dear Rudolphus made a similar comment in the last moments of his life. Her _Crucio _made him scream far louder than even mine." Harry snapped back, his voice gone deadly cold as he glared for all he was worth at Bellatrix. She glared right back at him, her mad purple eyes dancing with barely suppressed hatred.

"I swear by all the life left in me, the minute this thrice damned oath truce expires you will beg me for death Potter!"

"Old threats Bella, old threats. You really need to get more creative, perhaps invest in a thesaurus, I hear they have fascinating synonyms for torture death and other words you seem to favor."

"You can take your thiss-whatever and shove it some place excruciatingly painful Potter! Better men than you have cowered at my threats!"

"It was more likely your ever-so-lovely visage Bella than your threats. I am no fashion expert, but I think the haunted and mad look, with just a touch of homicide went out of vouge sometime in the dark ages." Harry drawled back.

"Says the boy who's greatest motif is and odd resemblance to a long-dead parent!"

"Enough of this Bella! We have better things to do than trade insults."

"Fine Potter, spoil all the fun as usual. Damn lions just don't know how to have a good time." Bella whined as she rapidly twirled her wand in an elegant semi-circle. Glowing runes sprang up as her wand spun faster and faster. Finally, with a sigh, Bella ceased the motion of her wand and sat heavily down on the ground.

Harry stared at her silently for a long moment, awaiting an answer and determined not to give her the satisfaction of begging for one. The minutes ticked by and still Bella sat in silence, the same glazed over look stuck on her face. Finally Harry could take it no more, and he closed the short distance between them and shook her none-too-gently.

Bellatrix instantly came back to her senses at his touch and reached out to smack him in retaliation, only to be halted a half-inch short by the power of the oath. Contenting herself with a glare of death, Bellatrix shakily got to her feet and shook off Harry's hand, "Something very odd is going on Potter. That spell I just used ran a check on the life forces of most of the principal players in the war. Turns out that Kingsley isn't the only one who's had a miraculous recovery from death: nearly everyone but the Dark Lord is still alive."

"That's impossible! Even the most powerful of Necromancy can't truly restore life even on the smallest of scales! Believe me I've tried." Harry mumbled at the end to himself.

Bella caught the comment and filed it away for further consideration before turning her mind back to the problem at hand, "Aye, I'm forced to agree with you Potter, much as it galls me. Even the Dark Lord at the height of his power couldn't have done something like this. The only thing I can think of is that the rift we fell through must somehow be behind this."

"Yes, that sounds reasonable, but what on earth could it have done? Perhaps a backlash from the fulfillment of the prophecy to set things aright?" Harry speculated absently, while shaking his head in confusion.

"Hate to burst your bubble Potter, but prophecies just don't work like that. Would kind of defeat their purpose. They serve mainly as mystical constructs to narrow the possible outcomes of the future. To say that one would deliberately discount the future it helped to build is madness."

"Divination has always been more than a little mad." Harry offered back in response.

"Divination may be, but that's the fault of the humans, not prophecies. Humans have a bad habit of incorrectly channeling and interpreting prophecies."

"Fine, fine. But if its not a backlash and not mass necromancy than what does that leave us? Shared Hallucination?"

"Possible, but highly unlikely, the spells for that have all been lost for thousands of years." Bellatrix answered absently as she stared off into the horizon. Harry merely smirked at her answer, glad that she was facing the wrong way to see it. They had actually rediscovered one of the spells near the middle of the war; it made a most interesting interrogation technique.

"The only thing I think that really leaves for us is a dimensional shift." Bellatrix said.

"I suppose that is possible." Harry began slowly, "But what would have had enough power to tear a hole in the fabric of reality?"

"Well Potter, there were two arch mages on the battlefield today, either one of them could have done it. The real question is which one of them did. If the Old Man is behind this mess than I'm afraid we may be trapped in a land of smiles and flowers." Bellatrix finished with disgust.

"And if Voldemort did it this place is going to be nothing but death and screams." Harry added with equal distaste.

"As much as I hate to say it I don't think the Dark Lord was behind this. I find it hard to believe that he would put his energies into reaching a world where he was not alive. He's far too vain for that."

"Bad mouthing old Volde' are you? My loyalty is short lived amongst you dark types."

"Less mocking more thinking Potter, unless its too far beyond your capacity."

"Fine, fine. But really, if the Headmaster is the one who sent us here why on earth did he let _you _come along for the ride. That's a level sadism I think that's much more old Tom's style."

"Possible, though your Dumbledore was truly enamored enough of second chances to try to give even _me _one to '_see the light.' _In any case I don't see how it matters just who sent us. Unless you have recently had a massive power boost we are stuck here either way._"_

"If it was the Dark Lord who sent us here I'd hardly need much of a power boost to send us back. In case you forgot I killed the bugger in what was not exactly a battle of finesse."

"Believe me Potter I haven't forgotten, I plan on showing just how much I remember when this oath wears off. As for your idea, I hate to dissuade you, but you may be as strong as the Dark Lord, but your fineness, as you were so kind to point out, is sadly lacking. Something as massive as a reality tear is so close to the limit of an arch mage's power that it has to be pulled off with the utmost _skill."_

"Fine, so we're stuck here. What exactly does that mean?"

"As far as I can tell whatever the hell we want it to. This is a new world, no prophecies, no dark marks and, judging by the way those aurors fought, no wars. We can stay here until we rot or we can go out into the world and cause havoc.

Also the effects of both of our vengeful rampages seem to have been more-or-less undone. We can either start killing everyone the other person know again, call a truce, or some strange combination thereof."

"Eloquent Bella."

"Why thank you Potter, it runs in the family, though it seems to not have been passed onto you by the Mutt's will."

Harry simply growled at Bella and settled for flicking her off at the minor insult before laying down on the grass with a contented sigh, "You know it does sound kind of nice: complete freedom."

"To wreck Havoc." Bella added helpfully, smirking as she threw herself down next to Harry. They both lay there for a long moment, starting at the slowly setting sun and savoring the sensation of freedom neither of them had known since their third year.

To the outside observer they would have made a strange scene, two mortal enemies laying side by side with giddy expressions on their face and staring at the sunset. Finally, just before the sun sank fully below the horizon Bellatrix broke the silence, "So Potter, what's it gonna be?"

"Hmm?" Harry mumbled back sleepily, the oath allowing him to relax despite Bella's presence.

"Are we going to take up the old game again or call a truce? Go our separate ways and say to hell with vengeance or fight it out the moment that damned oath wears off?"

Harry was silent for a moment as he took in Bella's words before slowly rolling over onto his side to face her, "I don't Bella. Personally I'm sick of all the killing, of all the death. There's a part of me that would still like nothing better than to stick a sword through your cold dead heart, but not at the cost of another round of slaughter."

"You do say the nicest things about me Potter. Most people when they talk about swords and being stuck into me completely neglect the heart. Much as I have a reputation as a sadistic bitch to maintain I have to say I agree with you. Ten years of war is enough for now. I'm not about to let you live out the rest of your life scot free for all the shit you pulled though. I'll offer you a year truce, revocable before that with the agreement of both of us: No trying to kill each other, no friend or companion hunting."

"Sounds more than fair Bella. Though I do find it odd that your sated even after ten years."

"I'm a sadist Potter, not a demon. Us snakes can bleed at heart just as much as you damn lions; we're just much better at hiding it."

"Aww Bella, your waxing poetic; I never knew you had it in you." Harry drawled, though his voice lacked the usual bite that would have normally accompanied such a comment. He felt oddly moved by Bella's words; in a strange way honored that the queen of pain, the most reviled being next to the Dark Lord himself had told _him _that she had a heart, that she was human.

Now, Potter wasn't exactly feeling the some-what red and gold-esque idea of walking over and giving the poor sad witch a hug, but maybe a clean knife through the ribs instead of a twisted one in the gut.

"Shut up Potter. Do you want the truce or not?" Bella snapped defensively.

"Aye Bella, I'll take it. A one year oath truce on the conditions you named."

"Agreed. I Bellatrix Black formerly Lestrange do swear an oath truce for the mighty duration of a full year from this very moment to refrain from attack upon or injury of Harry Potter of his associates, unless such associates should first offer me mortal harm."

"I Harry Potter hear the oath of Bellatrix Black formerly Lestrange and do respond in kind. I do swear a solemn oath to refrain from attack upon or injury to Bellatrix Black or her associates, unless such associates should first offer me mortal harm." Harry finished solemnly, closing his eyes in rapture as the ancient power of ritual magic flooded through him.

When the power rush at last died down Bella sighed in contentment before turning to Harry and quipping, "Quite the Lion even after all these years Potters. Only a damn Gryffindor would be asinine enough to add 'solemnly' to an oath spell."

"We prefer to think of it as honor Bella." Harry shot back without heat. The rush from the magic had left him feeling so good bella's half-hearted taunt hardly seemed worth becoming upset over.

"Well whatever Potter. I guess this is the place where we part ways, unless you care to become rather closely reacquainted with my death eater friends so soon."

"Not while I'm not allowed to kill them Bella."

"Well, if your not coming along with me, where do you plan on going?"

"Not that its any of your business, but I think I'll go to Hogwarts and see if its still standing."

"How very...predictable." Bella drawled. Harry had no answer to her accusation and the two of them stood in silence regarding each other for minute after minute. Finally, when the tension underneath the silence had become thick enough to cut with a knife bella stood up, unconsciously brushing of her blood-stained and battered robes as she did so.

"It's time for me to go Potter." She said quietly, uncertain of how to act around the golden boy who she was no longer allowed to attempt to kill. Every tenant of pureblood ritual that had been drilled into her head since borth screamed at her that she could not simply walk, (well apparate) away.

Harry meanwhile gave no response to her other than a stiff, shallow nod of his head. Frustrated by this lack of response bella found herself standing there waiting for more, some last swearing of revenge, promises of eternal hatred, _something _to mark the end of an era in one of the most vicious ten year feuds in history.

Seeing that Harry was not going to do anything suitably dramatic Bellatrix sighed and, on a whim, reached inside her cloak and pulled out one of the black family daggers. Tapping it with her wand and muttering a brief incantation she nodded in satisfaction and offered it to Harry blade first.

"In case you miss me Potter, just call." Bellatrix quipped with a sarcastic drawl as he cautiously accepted the knife turned portkey.

Harry chuckled darkly at the comment, but nonetheless sheathed the dagger in the place of the one which had been destroyed by killing Voldemort. "Why thank you Bella, should I ever have an urge to end my life in a painful fashion I'll be sure to activate a personal portkey _you _gave me. Now, as head of the family, I would be remiss in not rewarding such a generous gift in kind." Harry drawled with amusement as he took out the knife that hours before had drawn her blood and turned into a portkey keyed to him.

Bella accepted the blade wordlessly, shooting Potter a mocking grin as she deftly grabbed the blade without cutting herself. Then, with one last glare/smirk combination Bella turned away from Harry and disappeared into the night with a soft 'pop.'

Harry lingered for a moment longer his gaze searching the empty field and wondering what this new world had in store for him before, with a sigh, he apparated to the outskirts of Hogwarts.


	4. Homecoming: Harry Part 1

A/N: Decided to split this into two parts as I have a lot of work to this week and otherwise might not have gotten anything uploaded. thanks to the people who have read and even more to the people who reviewed :)

Chapter 4:

Homecoming: Harry. Part 1.

Harry appeared just in sight of Hogwarts with a barely audible 'pop.' Much to his delight he found the ancient castle still seemed to be standing and fully intact. He took a moment to marvel at the arching towers and spires that loomed up over him, so different from the burned and broken stones he remembered.

The castle had stood for nearly six years of the war, a record unmatched by any building used as a headquarters for either side. Then, with the Giants finally secured to his side by a combination of bribery and liberal uses of the _Imperious_ curse Voldemort had decided the time was ripe to finally attack the headquarters of the light.

Now, granted at the time he may also have been motivated by a slight lingering anger from the negligible incident in which Harry and Hermione had blown the Riddle house to pieces with three members of his inner circle inside.

In any case whatever his motivation, Tom Riddle had ended up managing to accomplish the impossible; he had broken Hogwarts. The siege had played out as one of the shortest, sharpest battles of the war with absurdly high casualties on both sides.

Voldemort himself had torn down the wards with a nasty piece of blood magic that drained the lives from close to one hundred captured witches and wizzards. After that the dark legions had attacked from every angle at once. Giants and vampires charged the gates while death eaters apparated inside the school in small clusters to wreck havoc from within.

The multi-fronted assault had proved to much for the Order and the few children who still remained inside the school. They had finally been forced to take cover within the great hall formed into a small circle back to back.

It was this circle of twenty three fighters, fifteen order members and eight children, who had bled the dark legions dry. Anything that entered the hall had met a swift and green death as the defenders of Hogwarts became the first light sympathetic force to unleash the killing curse en mass. Finally, when the losses were beginning to look like they might force the dark forces to reconsider capturing the castle Voldemort himself had led an assault against the great hall defenders

Harry and Voldemort had fought in the ruins of the great hall that day, and Harry had lost badly, acquiring a score of scars across his upper-body in the process. With his defeat and the Headmasters absence, the defenders had been forced to flee, though not before the somewhat insane Luna had managed to convince the semi-sentient Hogwarts that self destruction was all the rage amongst trendy castles these days. The rather terminally (literally) stupid castle had done just that, exploding in fiery ruin to deny Voldemort its use.

Harry was broken out of his remembrance by a gentle but firm clearing of the throat behind him. Whirling quickly, wand in hand and ready to fight, Harry found himself confronted by a pair of very familiar twinkling blue eyes.

Those ageless eyes regarded him quizzically for a long moment as though trying to figure out some great puzzle before the figure at last spoke, "It is a rather splendid view isn't it? Might I ask what brings you out here tonight Mr...?"

"Mister will do fine for now thank you Albus. As to your question, you might ask, but to be honest I'm not sure just what an honest answer to that question would be. I guess you could say I have been rather far away, and was curious just how things stood at Hogwarts."

"You seem to know my name and have some connection to Hogwarts, and yet I must confess 'Mister' that you have me rather at a loss. I have never forgotten a student who has passed through these halls and yet here you stand unknown to me."

Harry simply smirked at that, enjoying for once being the one who had the advantage of knowledge. Quickly though, he decided that as much fun as toying with the headmaster was, holding back his identity would make his task nearly impossible. Besides, the headmaster was probably more than bright enough to put things together for himself if he started asking about all the people from his year.

"To be honest headmaster I'm not entirely certain that I ever attended Hogwarts."

"Not entirely certain? I shudder to think that my school has fallen in such a state that a student cannot accurately recall that they were present there for a full seven years of their lives." The headmaster said with an amused twinkle of his eyes.

"Well, it's a slightly complicated matter, I don't know if you've heard of me or not, but my name is Harry Potter."

The normally twinkling eyes of the headmaster went cold and hard as Harry finished speaking, and his wand seemed to materilize in his hand, "I'm afraid 'Mister' that is a truly impossible claim, and one I would strongly encourage you not to make. To dishonor the memory of one such as he is a grave crime."

_Hmm, seems that I must have had a rather insane hero complex in this world as well_, Harry thought as he calmly stared down the Headmasters wand, confident that the old man would not attack unprovoked.

_Still, I suppose that's probably for the best, two of me running around would be rather confusing. Might be worth it though just to see the look on Bella's face._ Harry thought wistfully before gathering his attention back to the real world and taking a step back so that the headmaster's wand was no longer in danger of going up his nose.

Having established a safe distance harry brushed back the fringe of his ever-messy hair, hoping that his rather dead counterpart had also possessed the notorious scar. He was not disappointed, as upon seeing the jagged lightning bolt the Headmaster staggered back in shock.

Albus quickly regained his footing and regarded Harry with a suspicious eye before wiping his wand back and forth in a movement too fast for the eye to follow. Harry however, managed to react on instinct, and had thrown up a dark shield a split second before the unknown spell would have connected with him.

Lowering his shield Harry growled at a concerned looking headmaster, "It is not a good idea to attempt to catch me unaware old man. I have certain reflexes that could be much more dangerous than a simple shield."

"My apologies, 'Mister' I was simply trying to cast an anti-glamor charm to confirm your scar is real. Still, I must express some concern about the 'harmlessness' of your reaction. That was a dark shield unless these old eyes are failing me."

"Aye Albus, a serpent's guard: its mostly harmless unless you had thrown a dark curse at me, then it would have reacted in a most unpleasant manner. Now, if that truly was an anti-glamor you need but ask next time you want to cast it."

"Very well then 'Mister' might I cast the anti-glamor charm?" Albus asked still wary after the serpent's guard: anyone who had a dark arts reflexive response was someone to watch.

"By all means." Harry replied with a mocking half bow.

Albus managed to force his grandfather expression into place in response, while he quickly and efficiently cast every single anti-concealment charm he knew. Now, considering just who the headmaster was, this meant that poor Harry was rapidly in danger of dying of terminal boredom, as hour after hour rolled by with an increasingly flustered headmaster casting more and more obscure charms on him.

Finally, a full three and a half hours latter harry finally held up a hand to stop the headmaster from casting a border-line dark charm that would have left him babbling all of his life's greatest secrets out, "That's quite enough Albus. And I must recommend that you don't finish the incantation for that Egyptian babbling curse, dark arts really aren't befitting of a man of your stature."

Albus stopped at once, looking guiltily at Harry before sheathing his wand with an elegant flourish, "Very well then mister Potter. You must explain to me just how you have come back from having your soul rather unfortunately obliterated at the end of the Triwizard Tournament."

"I bit the bucket at the end of the Triwizard? Damn, I must have been slipping to let old Tommy destroy my soul while he was still experiencing resurrection drain. But in any case, I guess you can fill me in on that latter, though preferably not in to exacting of detail, knowing im dead is bad enough without getting the full mental image. Now, as to how I have come 'back,' the simple answer is that I haven't."

"Forgive me Mr. Potter, but I find that to be a highly improbably explanation seeing as we are having this pleasant little dialog." Albus quipped, the twinkle slowly returning to his eyes at Harry's carefree tone.

Harry simply wagged his finger at the headmaster in mock scorn, "Why Albus, I'm offended that you think to hold a monopoly on the right to be cryptic! This may be the one time in my life that I have more information than your esteemed self, please do allow me to enjoy it."

"Oh very well my boy." Albus replied, his eyes now in real danger of blinding the unprepared onlooker with their twinkle.

"Now, as I was saying I haven't come 'back.' Rather, I guess the best you could say is that I came across. The last battle had just ended in my world, Tom was dead, but so was the rest of the world. In the midst of this rather bleak scene a strange rift appeared over my head. I feel through it and ended up in the exact same place I was a moment before, except with no signs of the battle."

"Fascinating, a dimensional rift, the theory is known to me, but I have never heard of its actual use." Dumbledore murmured to himself.

"Yeah, it's a good thing you are familiar with the theory, since we were pretty sure it was you who sent us through the rift, this world is just not Tommy's style."

"We? Did you come here with someone else Mr. Potter?" Ablus inquired curiously, wondering if he might have the joy of yet another of the light's hero's coming back to life before his eyes.

"Err, sorry figure of speech, royal we and all you know?" Harry mumbled quickly. He did not want to tell Albus about Bellatrix. He would feel obliged to attempt to hunt her down and she would tear anyone they send after her appart.

_Not the headmaster. _A small voice in his head added snidely, _even in this world she's no match for Dumbledore, just tell him to go himself and the threat will be end! _Harry was just about to reconsider his words when another thought stirred deep in his mind.

_Thats not the reason you lied to him. _It maliciously purred, _Bella is mine! My fight! My vengeance! Not for some old man to capture like a common criminal._

"Ahh, I see..." Ablus murmured in response, clearly not believing Harry, but deciding not to push the matter, "Now, I imagine that you have some questions about this dimension?"

"More than some Albus, but I'll be content if you just answer one of them; Who is still alive?" Harry asked earnestly, wanting confirmation of Bella's words.

"Well, Oldus Macmer and Bizzy McFallen and..." Ablus began with a truly unlawful amount of twinkling in his eyes, only to stop short at Harry's furious expression.

"_Old Man_." Harry all but snarled, "I just came straight from a battlefield on which the last of my surviving friends, _the last! _Was killed before my eyes. I have no patience for these games. Tell me, is Hermione alive? Is Ron? Is Sirius, is Remus?"

"My apologies Harry." The headmaster murmured regretfully, "Sometimes I simply forget that others do not share my rather odd sense of humor. But, as for your question the answer is yes. All those you named are still alive as are all those who the other Harry associated with. Indeed, the only casualties of the war beyond poor Tom were yourself and one Bellatrix Lestrange."

"Bella..err..Bellatrix died? How? Did I kill her?"

"No, no, nothing of the sort. She died in a truly horrid splicing accident brought about by trying to apparate out of Azkanban to answer the newly revived Voldemort's summons."

Harry smirked at that and only with a great effort of will managed to hold back laughter, _Oh that'll be fun to taunt Bella with next time we meet. Not exactly the blaze of glory she was hoping for._

"I'll hold off asking how I died headmaster, to be honest I'm not really sure if I want to hear that story any time soon. Is there any way I can see Hermione and Ron?"

"Indeed, though I doubt you'll find them in the same place. Mrs. Granger did not react to your death very well. She lashed out at everyone around her and eventually drove them all away both with her attitude and some very nasty new hexs she developed.

After leaving Hogwarts she poured herself into spell creation and has made more breakthroughs than anyone in living history. Currently so far as I know she is employed by the department of mysteries as a researcher and is living in a small house on the south side of Hogsmead.

Ron on the other hand, and I do assume you are referring to Mr. Weasly, is currently working underneath his father in the ministry. He still lives in the burrow as far as I know."

"You do a rather good job of keeping track of you students. Some might call it disturbingly good even." Harry said with amusement at the headmaster's quick and sure response.

"At my age Harry one stops worrying about what others find disturbing." Albus said with a mad twinkle in his eyes, "Now, a word of warning. I recommend that if you plan on visiting Mrs. Granger you go in with a strong shield raised: she does not respond well to visitors."

"Thank you Albus, I think I will visit Hermione first, I don't know if I'm nearly healthy enough to survive a welcome at the Burrow, especially a welcome back from the dead." Harry quipped.

"Not healthy? Did the dimensional transit wreck some havoc on you my boy? I speculated once in a paper around 1900 that such a thing was possible but..."

"No, no Albus, its not from the dimensional travel: the worst injury I suffered from that was a five foot fall to the ground. I'm just a little drained from fighting old Tommy a few hours back."

"Ahh, of course. Might I offer you some Pepper-Up potion?"

"Thanks, but no thanks, I'd rather be tired than walk around with smoke coming out of my ears." Harry shot back with a grin. It felt good to simply banter again without the shadow of death and war hanging over his head. _I could get used to this. _He thought happily, before sighing internally, he'd best not: Bella's truce was only for a year.

Still, a year was far better than nothing, and it would be good to see Hermione without having to think of the war; Ron's death: or even worse, her's.


	5. Machinations from on High

A/N: Two things here, first I just realized I've been forgetting the standard disclaimers so I'll fix that now: Don't own anything, just having fun.

Secondly currently I'm operating unbetad and under the idea that people would prefer faster updates to perfect grammar. If this becomes too distracting do let me know and I'll take more time fixing it.

thxs for reading and reviewing :)

Chapter 5: Machinations from on High

Dumbledore watched the man who claimed to be Harry Potter apparate away with his grandfather smile painfully fixed upon his face. Only once he was sure the stranger was gone did he allow it to slip into a scowl which matched his mood.

This new Harry was not something he needed. He thought that he had dealt with the problem all those years ago when he had Snape sabotage the Dark Lord's resurrection potion to kill both of the other potential arch mages in the world. Yet it seemed that Fate had dared to throw a wrench into his plans in the form of a fully grown and fully powered Harry effectively risen from the dead.

The only saving grace was that although he fairly reeked of dark magic, the boy did not seem to be overly hostile, and in fact almost appeared to trust him. Even better, he seemed rather attached to both Remus and Ron, two of his more malleable pawns.

The other two he had inquired about worried Albus though. Sirius had not spoken to the headmaster after learning of the death of his godson, and was even now roaming about the shadier parts of wizard society wrecking bloody vengeance on anyone whom he thought was even peripherally associated with Harry's death. Only much flashing of the mourning grandfather face and words sworn under a badly worded oath had kept Albus off of the convict's list.

Even more worrying though than Sirius was Hermione. The girl was a loose cannon in the worst possible sense. More brilliant perhaps than any witch or wizard in history, she had been a bad miscalculation on his part. After Harry's death and the final destruction of the Dark Lord, Albus had been quick to laud the boy's death as sad but necessary, the true path of a hero.

This had worked remarkably well on Ron, as the boy's family quickly convinced him that the loss of his best friend was nothing next to the horror of the first war with Voldemort. All it had taken was a weeping Molly pulling out a half dozen pictures of the last moment of the Prewett twins and Ron's legendary anger had been checked.

Hermione on the other hand had no family that could tell her about the horrors of the first war. All she saw as a wizard world celebrating at the death of her best friend. Albus had hoped that her respect for authority figures, namely himself, would convince her to accept Harry's passing and at length move on. He was proved dramatically wrong when she had snapped three days after Harry was buried, casting a bizarre hex she had invented on Lavender and afflicting the poor girl with a still incurable case of narcalepsy when Hogwarts's gossip queen had proudly displayed her new copy of Witch's Weekly that celebrated the defeat of the Dark Lord while making only vague mention of the 'noble death' of Harry Potter.

After that, Hermione had distanced herself rather violently from all her peers and thrown herself deeper and deeper into research. She had then surprised Albus by deciding to stay in the wizard world upon graduation, accepting a spell research job with the Department of Mysteries. When her research findings began to roll out in relentless waves Albus found himself wishing desperately for a time turner: he had alienated the wrong friend of Potter's.

Still, maybe Hermione would not prove to be a complete disaster for him after all. He had been rather lax in his warning to the new Potter: Hermione did not simply dislike visitors; she tended to respond with near-lethal force. Perhaps the two of them would do him a favor and simply kill each other.

Even if they did not there were measures he could take to neutralize their power. A law here, a word there and they would both be on the run if it came to that. Nodding to himself Albus grabbed hold of a small medallion around his neck and portkeyed back to his office.

* * *

Kingsley stormed into his office in a black mood. Debacles like the one he had just escaped from where supposed to have ended with Dark Lord. It had seemed like a fairly routine call at first; the unforgivable sensor had gone off in the hills of Scotland.

Things had begun to get strange as he scrambled the normal four auror response team. In the three minutes it took him to call them together the sensor had gone off an alarming four hundred and sixty-two times. Thinking that a full scale war must have broken, out Kingsley had quickly called for support, scrambling almost the entire day contingent of aurors to reconnoiter the area and deal with the threat.

Upon arrival normalcy had prompted fled the scene entirely. Instead of an army, they found two people. _Two! _Dueling each other too fast for the eye to follow. The area had reeked of dark magic so badly that one of the rookies had promptly thrown up. Kingsley would have had the man sent back to the academy for that if he hadn't been turned inside out less than a minute latter.

The sheer speed and ferocity the two had fought with was mind numbing. His entire command had been slaughtered around him too quickly to even think after they brought down that strange golden shield. Even his best two auror's, who had survived the initial onslaught, had proved to be more helpless than a pair of first years against a dragon.

Kingsley still wasn't sure how exactly he himself had escaped, which waswhy he was standing over his personal pensive instead of reporting to the auror command as he should

Placing his wand gently on his temple Kingsley focused on the battle and slowly drew out the shinny thread of a memory. He quickly deposited it into the bowl of the pensive and stuck in his head.

He emerged from its depths twenty minutes latter more confused than when he had entered. Not only did he not recognize half the spells the pair had used, he had not the faintest clue who they could be. Kingsley had a nearly perfect photographic memory and was in the habit of committing the book of suspected dark wizards and criminals to memory and the beginning of each week. Thus, it was a shock for him when neither of his advisories looked even remotely like anyone he could think of.

Two people as deadly and reckless with dark magic should have been all over the international alert by now, even if this was their first time in Britain. As much as he hated to go over his own head the casualties today left him with no real choice. He had hoped to walk into Amelia's office with the criminals captured, or at least identified, in order to mitigate the disaster this represented for him.

He briefly toyed with the idea of waiting just a little while longer to give himself more of a chance to research them, but ultimately sighed in defeat: he would be fired if they struck again before he passed the knowledge, responsibility and blame onto someone else. He felt a brief flash of pity for Amelia as he walked towards her office with the news. The public would be crying for her blood within a day once this news got out.

Twenty minutes latter Kingsley wondered how on earth he had felt pity for the head of the DMLE as she continued unabated into the fifteenth minute of her tirade against him. Finally he had had more than enough, and shot a low-powered concessive hex into the ceiling.

The resulting boom echoed throughout the chamber, but failed to penetrate the permanent silencing charms which enveloped the office. Fortunately for Kingsley, it did seem to get to Amelia who stopped in mid word.

Seizing the initiative before she could work up another head of steam Kingsley held up his hand for silence, "A moment Amelia please; this is not helping anything. Now, there are two kinds of damage control that we need to see to and see to fast. First there is the publicity debacle, and I do mean that in the worst sense of the word, that is going to come down on us when the public finds out that we just lost thirteen aurors. The second is whatever damage those two are going to cause now that they are running around loose."

Amelia leaned back thoughtfully as he spoke, still fuming, but willing to listen to the sound advice Kingsley was offering: after all, she had not become the head of the DMLE by being anything but politically savvy.

"We'd best take care of the publicity debacle first Kingsley." Amelia said after a momentary pause, "There is no way we will be able to keep that under wraps for more than a few hours. Once those aurors don't return we will have no alternative but to tell their families. From there we are one hysterical or calculated phone call away from a meltdown. No, what we need to do is beat them to punch, spin things our way.

Since you're the only one who survived this little disaster, there is no reason we can't turn it into something a little more heroic, say thirty of those, what was that new blood supremacist group from Bulgaria called?"

"Legionaries of Blood." Kingsley said after a moments thought.

"Yes, that's it. Thirty Legionaries of Blood who were engaged in a power struggle with some of the criminal elements in Knockturn...No, no, the people won't accept losing auror's lives on this kind of scale to settle a dispute between a bunch of scum. We need something catchier, something more heart rending. Do we have any people who died overseas that no one knows about yet Kingsley?"

"Three: two purebloods who had a disagreement with a vampire ancient and a muggleborn who got drunk and apparated into a wall in the middle of Italy."

"Hmm, not very good choices those. What kind of alligence did the purebloods hold?"

"Both suspected dark supporters who latched on to Lucius to escape at the end of the Dark Lord's firstreign."

"By Merlin's beard, couldn't a light-aligned wizard off themselves? It shouldn't be that hard with all those hard-headed Gryfs running around: no offense Kingsley." Amelia moaned as she leaned back heavily in her chair. "Still, got to work with what we have. Okay, here's the story we leak to the press: The two dark wizards were actually spies for our ministry and were fleeing back to us with vital information about a possible mass-strike on British soil in retaliation for a classified international joint action taken against them months ago.

Our 'spies' sent up a distress call in the middle of Scotland and all of our brave aurors selflessly came to the rescue. They met thirty of the Legionaries of Blood and managed to inflict say, twenty five losses on them before being overwhelmed. Meanwhile, in the heat of the battle you managed to grab one of the mortally wounded spies and apparate back to headquarters with him. As he died in your arms he managed to whisper the plans of the Legionaries to you."

"Not bad Amelia, though what do you think the response of the real Legionaries will be?"

"Probably claim credit, reverse the numbers involved and covertly mail me a thank you note for the publicity." Amelia shot back wryly.

"Fair enough and probably correct. What do we do once we've brought the press to heel?"

"What we always do: we hunt these bastards down and we kill them." Amelia said coldly.

"With all due respect to both you and the department Amelia I don't know if that is possible. These two where impossibly good and seem to work flawlessly together, which, on a side note is something that has me completely baffled seeing as they were quite intent upon murdering each other when we arrived. I don't think we would have fared any better coming after them with fifty aurors than with the thirteen I had."

Amelia sighed at Kingsley's words and rose form her chair to pace about the small office. After she had completed three circuits of the room she spun about abruptly to face Kingsley once more, "Tell me, what resources outside the department do you think we can bring to bear?"

"The unspeakables's combat division should probably be our first recourse: those guys are damned deadly and keep their mouths shut. After that the options start to loose appeal. The next best fighters are probably the Order of the Phoenix, but that of course would bring the headmaster into this."

"Yes, yes it would, and that would piss Fudgey off to high hell. Which, amusing as it might be would make life very difficult for this department come budget allocation time. Still, I suppose should the unspeakables not prove up to the task we can inform Dumbledore. Until then however I do not want any of this information reaching him. Is that clear?"

"Aye Amelia." Kingsley said, lying smoothly.

"Good. That will be all for now. I will send a more detailed plan on action to your desk before the day is out. Until then get our propaganda machine up and running."

Kingsley nodded his understanding before tossing a crisp salute to Amelia and exiting her office. Amelia watched him go with a neutral expression as he quick mind scrambled to catch up to all the plans she had set in motion.

The press deceit should hold easily enough, and might even give her some future leverage with the Legionaries of Blood. Kingsley too should play his part perfectly, running to his precious headmaster the minute she ordered him not to. The only real question mark were the two unknowns who had slaughtered her aurors.

On one hand she wanted to hate them for laying waste to a corpse she had spent years building, while on the other hand they might just represent the opportunity she needed. If they were as deadly as Kingsley indicated she could use them to whittle down the overly Gryf-ish Order of the Pheonix, maybe even removing the old man himself from the picture if she was lucky.

With Dumbledore gone, or at least distracted, Fudge's already shaky political base should disintegrate with one good push. Amelia smiled as she thought of the file cabinet she had in the back of her office that was filled with more than enough scandals to create that push.

Fudge falling would open up a power vacuum that had already been years too long in coming. Once that vacuum opened with the wizard world in a time of strife who better to step up and fill it than the person in charge of protecting the wizard world? The person who had brought two ruthless killers to justice. Yes, if she could just find a way to dispose of these two when they had outlived their rather fortuitous usefulness the loss of those aurors may not have been so bad after all.


	6. Nothing Says I missed you like Crucio

A/N: 1. I own nothing, just playing. 2. This is still Harry/Bella, though there will be some H/HR in this chapter, trust me its needed for the plot. other than that please read and review, makes me write faster :)

Chapter 6

Nothing says I missed you like _Crucio_

Harry absently reflected that maybe he should have gone to see the Weasly's first, there was just something about Hermione's place that didn't make it feel particularly friendly. Hell, he thought as he ducked the fourth near-lethal curse in as many seconds, he'd felt more love from good old Tommy and his death eaters a time or two.

Things had gone bad the moment he opened the door, serpent guard shield raised just incase the headmaster was not exaggerating. It seemed a good compromise to him, capable of rebounding almost any light spell, the serpent guard also was one of the best anti-dark hex spells in existence, as it absorbed anything short of the unforgivables and responded with a dark stunner in turn.

Turns out he should have walked in with a full Aegis shield backed up by a ten-foot thick block of steel, or perhaps better yet have simply mailed a letter. The first spell thrown at him had not been the partly dark hex he had expected, oh no; it had been a nasty, if slightly weak _Crucio_.

It seemed that either Hermione's warding was up to concealing the casting of unforgivables or she simply had permission from her work in the Department of Mysteries, as she showed no compunction about making liberal use of both _Crucio_ and the_ Imperious. _

Fortunately for Harry, Hermione had never been especially powerful compared to Tom and Bella, so the impact from her _Crucio _curse had only truly been an uncomfortable shock rather than a crippling wave. Still, as she had back in his world, this Hermione was fiendishly smart and, once she noticed her _Crucio _had no real effect on him, had switched tactics.

Now a series of crippling hexs designed to vanish various important body parts flew through the air all about him. He had to give her credit for both good taste and creativity, Harry thought as he threw up an Aegis shield to absorb the leg and buttocks vanishing hexs she hurled at him.

Still, as impressive as her creativity was he really couldn't afford to let this fight rage on long enough to enjoy anymore of it. If this Hermione was anything like his then she would soon find some overly clever way of making his life difficult. The only problem was that normally, in his world, when he had dueled Hermione he had relied on his raw power to simply overwhelm any protections she might have be able to erect. Here, he was reluctant to do so for fear of offing his friend in a rather messy manner: if she hadn't gone through the same dark rituals as his Hermione she might not be able to withstand his power.

Finally, when a genital vanishing hex splattered off his shield Harry decided that he was going to have to risk it. Standing up from behind the desk he had taken cover near Harry made a sharp sweeping motion with his wand and executed a wide-arc stunning spell. Hermione seemed to instantly recognize the wand gesture as she raised a textbook perfect response to it: the _Impernius_ shield.

Unfortunately for her, the person who wrote the text book had never figured that his readers would have the distinct misfortunate of facing someone whose power level was that of an arch mage.

The _Impernius's _bubble-like exterior, designed to take advantage of the slight curvature of energy that wide-arc spells created, simply popped as Harry's spell impacted on it. Hermione had a moment to look shocked before the spell connected and sent her to the ground in a limp heap.

Harry resisted the urge to rush over to her with patience born of several unpleasant experiences and first casta spell to make sure she was actually unconscious. Once he was satisfied that she was, he quickly rushed to her side to check her pulse. Harry sighed with relief when he found that, although slightly erratic, it was otherwise fine.

_Now all I have to do is figure out how to wake her up without having a repeat of this little brawl, _Harry thought absently as he surveyed the damage Hermione had inflicted on her foyer. _Hmm, I doubt she has the requisite power to break any magic bonds I place on her, but I better avoid any willpower bindings._

Mind made up Harry swiftly moved his wand in an intricate figure eight style movement and cast a major light based binding charm that would draw power directly from his core. Once he was satisfied that it was in place he warily waved his wand over Hermione to revive her. She came awake with a panicked look, her immobile hand desperately trying to fight the force of the bindings to reach her wand.

Not wanting her to hurt herself struggling against the magic Harry quickly cleared his throat to get her attention. Her head jerked up with a harsh 'snap' as her brown eyes glared at him furiously. Seeing that he was not wilting under his glare she spat out, "You will release me at once! There is nothing you can possibly gain from me: both the Department's secrets and mine are under a modified concealment charm which can only be lifted with my consent. If you do not at once cease this outrageous and unprovoked assault upon my person I will be forced to invoke the 'Reasonable and Unreasonable Bill of Defense' section 6 paragraph four pertaining to the freedom of unspeakables holding state secrets to respond with unforgivable force!"

Harry simply smiled at her out burst before saying, "Nice to see you too Hermione."

Hermione continued to glare at him, seemingly deaf to his pleasant, if wry greeting, "I do not recall you, nor will I be lulled into a false sense of security by this pathetic farce of familiarity!"

_Well, she is right about the farce bit, though perhaps not in the way she thinks, _Harry thought to himself as he slowly brushed the fringe back that hid his scar. This seemed only to infuriate the bound Hermione further as she began to fight for all she was worth against the magical bonds, "You utter bastard! You...you...grrrrrrr!" She screamed as she fought.

_Note to self, that did not go over well. _Harry thought as he tried to come up with some way to convince Hermione of the admittedly rather unbelievable fact that he had effectively come back from the dead. Finally, a solution came to him as Hermione hurled an insult his way that Bella was particularly fond of. It was in french so he didn't completely understand it, but from what a laughing Remus had once told him it implied a great and general lack of certain key attributes coupled with a wholly unnatural fascination with pox-ridden mules.

"Easy Hermione, just listen to what I have to say before you hurt yourself!" Harry yelled, the tone of his voice seeming to catch Hermione's attention more than the words themselves, "Good. Now listen, I truly am who I appear to be, but I really can't expect you to take that on faith. Unfortunately, I can't exactly let you go either as you've shown a great tendency towards attempting to inflict rather grievous harm upon my person. In order to satisfy both parts of this little problem I am willing to offer you a one hour oath truce, during which I will stand down and allow you to cast any identifying charms you wish upon me."

Hermione seemed to consider it for a long moment before nodding her head, "I Hermione Granger do swear not to cause harm to the man in front of me for the span of one hour."

"I Harry Potter do swear not to cause Harm to Hermione Granger for the span of one hour." Harry replied back with relief as he dispelled the bonds that held her. Instantly she was back on her feet with her wand brandished at him. It seemed that she planned to use the full hour allotted to her to test his 'disguise.'

Thirty minutes in when nothing she had cast had caused his scar to even flicker a strange look began to settle on her face. Fifty minutes into the hour she finally sighed and looked up at him in defeat, "Your either telling the truth or using the most powerful illusion charm I've ever heard of. I need a drop of your blood to test this."

Harry shrugged at this had held out his arm, "Feel free." Only to find himself on the end of a death glare from Hermione.

"I can't you idiot! Remember the oath."

"Oops, forgot about that." Harry said with an unconcerned tone as he drew the knife Bella had given him and slashed crosswise on his left wrist. Hermione quickly grabbed the blood that poured forth in a small conjured silver bowl, ignoring the bloody wound itself.

Harry absently healed himself with a small wandless charm as he watched Hermione work. She was bent intently over the bowl, chanting in a strange language that he thought he recognized as ancient Sumerian. She finished the ritual with a satisfied nod and glanced intently into the blood she had just used to divine his identity.

The bowl dropped from her hands with a sharp crash as it shattered on the floor spraying Hermione and the surrounding area with his blood. She did not seem to notice as she stared at him in wordless shock, her normally brilliant mind utterly unable to comprehend what the ritual had just told her.

It wasn't until a full minute latter that it seemed to catch up, as, with a wordless shriek, she threw herself at him, engulfing him in a hug to which she seemed to be clinging for dear life. He tentatively wrapped his arms around her in return as she sobbed soundlessly into his chest. They stayed like that for nearly half and hour, each lost in their own thoughts, until, at last Hermione seemed to regain the use of her voice to gaps out, "How...you...I...saw.?"

"Shhh Hermione, lets sit down and I'll explain it to you." Harry said as he reached down to wipe a tear from her face, noticing that it lacked the jagged scars under the eyes his Hermione had cut to weep for the dead with blood instead of tears. _She's still Hermione_. _Still the same girl _He told himself, ignoring the voice in the back of his head that moaned softly over the lost scars, so much a part of his Hermione.

He guided her gently to the nearest intact couch, which turned out to be in an adjacent room. Once they had sat down he reluctantly pulled her arms off him for a moment so that he could face her, "Hermione, this is going to sound unbelievable, but hear me out before you start hurling _Crucio_ around again okay? Harry asked gently, receiving a short nod in reply.

Now secure in the fact that she would probably stay to listen before resorting to violence he began his tale, telling her of the war; of the final battle and her death at the hands of Tom. He held back only the fact that Bella had come through the rift with him; an unimportant factor while the truce held, he rationalized to himself. Through it all she looked at him with wonder, scarcely believing that after all these years Harry Potter was actually speaking to her once again.

When he at last had finished they found themselves in silence once more, before Hermione broke it, speaking quietly, "I missed you so much, and and...they..they, none of them cared! Oh Harry do you know how horrible it was sitting there and listening to them celebrate your death? To listen to them prattle on about the greater good? To have to hear time and time again about the 'courage' of that slimy potion's master! I think I cracked at some point, I truly think that I lost it.

I hated, still hate, the wizard world for that, I'll never forgive those cowards! Hiding behind the death of a fourth year because they were too scared to face their own problems! Even Ron didn't seem to care after a few days, told me to get over it, that you died for a 'noble cause.' I think I broke his nose for that." Hermione finished, trailing off into muttering as she slowly wrapped her arms around herself and rocked back and forth.

It broke Harry's heart to see Hermione, even if it wasn't his Hermione according to that damned voice in the back of his head, like this. She had been so strong, the rock of stability within the order. Those bloody cuts under her eyes had been more than a gesture, more than a symbol. They represented a sacrifice no one else was brave enough to even consider making. She had found them in an obscure book stolen from the Avery home moments before it was consumed in an inferno of dark magic.

It was called the Tears of Attila, named after a rite the ancient Hun lord's bodyguard's had undertaken at his death. They had slashed their faces in order to shed tears of blood for their fallen leader, in deference to both his prowess and the depth of their loss. Those who had shed the bloody tears at his funeral had emerged as changed men, hard cold, and utterly emotionless.

Three centuries latter a wizard historian, who also happened to be a budding dark lord, had watched his wife be killed in front of his eyes by a rival faction. Recalling the Huns he had cloistered himself in his vast library for nearly two months. When he emerged it had been with a ritual of terrifying power and price. It had stripped all emotion from its caster, rendering them immune grief and pain, but also hope, joy and love.

The dark lord had come back from the ritual and carried all before in a wave of coldly calculated vengeance that had brought the wizard world to its knees. Since that time countless dark lords had sought to duplicate the ritual only to find themselves unable to pay its price.

The ritual was constructed around the powerful symbolism of Attila's death, and as such required that one who dared invoke it have suffered the loss of companion that wracked their very soul with grief. Since Dark Lord's tended to be built along the lines of Lord Voldemort, beings who had never truly cared for anyone enough to feel such despair, the ritual rapidly fell out of favor.

Hermione had invoked it at the death of Ron and nearly half of the order during a bloody ambush at the ministry, sacrificing her emotions forever so that she might anchor the grief stricken Order with cold logic. Since they day no tear had fallen from her eyes, even as parents, friends and allies fell in droves all about her.

No, Harry thought sadly as he gathered the sobbing Hermione in his arms; this was not his Hermione. Nonetheless, he still sheltered her in his arms as he rode out her sobs, rode out the sad, pitiful whimpers that sprang from the greatest mind in the last thousand years.

Finally, when the last of her cries had faded Hermione gently disentangled herself from Harry, looking up at him with tear-stained eyes. Almost hesitantly she reached out to his face, tracing the lightning bolt scar with he fingers, assuring herself one last time that he was real. Then, in a movement too fast even for Harry's battle hardened reflexes to divert she grabbed the back of his head and pull him to her fiercely. Before Harry even had a chance to figure out what on earth was going on she was kissing him desperately.

He stiffened for a moment, his Hermione had never..._No, I shouldn't do this she's not mine and I'm no hers, this is a lie, unfair to this poor girl _Harry thought frantically even as he felt himself ease into the kiss. It was so hard to ague with himself when it was something he had so desperately wanted.

All those years watching his once demonstrative best friend as nothing more than a burned out husk; all those years wanting so badly to breathe life back into her came crashing down on him as he began to respond to this Hermione's kiss.

His Hermione could never have done such a thing, his Hermione had sacrificed too much for a world that never deserved it, but with this Hermione he could pretend . The dream of so many years could becoming a reality.

He realized, or rationalized some more cynical part of his mind pointed out, as his hand moved to cup her breast gently, that he was no more using her than she was using him. They were both playing a game, both remembering the closest thing they would ever have to an irreplaceable loss.

This thought broke the last of Harry's doubts as he simply let the experience wash over him, taking comfort in the arms of another human for the first time in years. As Hermione became more and more aggressive in her affections Harry used the last of his rational mind to wandlessly darken and silence the room.

His last coherent thought was that maybe, after the truce; after this, he would not wake up as he always did, haunted by a blazing pair of mad, violet, eyes.


	7. There are Advantages to being Mad

A/N: 1. Dont own anything, just playing. 2. Read and Review, they go well together :). Thanks to everyone who's reading this.

Chapter 7

There are Advantages to Being Mad

Bellatrix appeared at the entrance to Malfoy manner with a soft 'pop.' She glanced around warily, noting with relieved surprise that the manor was still standing. A moment later her relief was replaced by annoyance as the wards had the impudence to hurl her fifty feet backwards at lethal speeds.

Bellatrix hesitated to remedy the problem, enjoying the rush of flying a near a hundred miles an hour towards a hard and unyielding stone garden wall. Still, she decided absently, being splattered against it would end up amusing Potter entirely too much.

With this in mind, she quickly spun her wand in a complex arc and brought herself gently down to the ground. Once she was safely back on her feet Bella turned her attention back to the rather rude wards that had attempted to kill her. Now, the Malfoy wards had been raised nearly a thousand years ago and had withstood the test of giants, dragons, and the odd Dark and not so odd Light lord.

Unfortunately, they had never encountered the rather warped mind of Bellatrix Black who chose to attack them with her particular brand of madness. Bella carefully paced off the distance between the garden wall and the edge of the wards before nodding to herself in satisfaction and tracing a quick series of runes against the wall.

Then, with a delighted smirk, Bella leaped at the wards. The responded in the same way as before, hurtling the madly giggling witch backwards at insane speeds. This time Bella did not bother to halt her progress, as she instead allowed herself to be flung the full distance into the wall. Instead of being splattered on impact as the first Malfoy to build the wall had no doubt intended, Bellatrix's runes instead glowed brightly and shot her back towards the wards at nearly five times her original speed.

Hurtling like some black-haired comet back at the wards Bella was once again repulsed. Back and forth she shot, a living, breathing and decidedly overly-amused pinball, until, at the end of the fifth cycle, she shot straight through the wards, having returned too fast for them to reset .

Once she was through the wards Bella's wand was immediately moving, casting a rapid sequence of charms that sent her flying straight up, using up her forward momentum before she slammed into the imposing walls of the manor itself.

When Bella finally descended from her three and a half thousand foot ascent she found an extremely angry looking Lucius standing outside the manor with his wand trained steadily on her.

"Hi there Lucy." Bella said with a smirk as she waved down at the death eater.

Lucius was not amused and it clearly showed as he fired a barely legal pain curse up at the witch. Bella simply smiled benevolent, well as benevolently as an insane and truly homicidal sadist can, and took the curse.

Lucius was horrified to note that instead of screaming in pain the witch he had hit was actually moaning in something that sounded suspiciously like pleasure. But that was impossible, no one in their right mind could possible enjoy the effects of the _Agno_ curse. Then again, Lucius reflected as the witch reached the ground a few feet away from him, she didn't look like someone who was playing with even half a deck of cards.

"Who are you." Lucius snarled in his most imperious Malfoy voice.

"I'm hurt Lucy! You don't remember me? Why, we're family!" Bellatrix said cheerfully.

Lucius stated hard at the strange woman, taking in her tall and emaciated form and wild black hair. It wasn't until his gaze came to rest on her eyes that it dawned on him, "Bella? But your dead!"

"Really? That's a disappointment. I was really hoping to see the look on Potter's face when he ran into two of me. Still, I guess that means more for me; me me that is, not other me."

Lucius regarded the witch in front of him quizzically. It had to be some poorly conceived trick by either the old man or Amelia to try to get their hands on more of his money. He knew for a fact that Bella was dead, he had seen the rather gruesome proof during his own brief stay at Azkaban. Yet, somehow, this witch who stood before him seemed real.

No one but Bella was enough of a masochist to enjoy an _Agno _curse. No one but Bella would have the sheer audacity and brilliance to breach his wards in the way this witch had. And finally, no one but Bellatrix Black would ever be caught dead acting even half as mad as the woman in front of him.

"Yes well I suppose it might be you." Lucius conceded, lowering his wand slightly.

Bella got a slightly disappointed look as she mock pouted at Lucius, "Your not going to torture me? Not even a little? By the Dark Lord himself, what has the hospitality of a death eater come to in this world?"

"This world?" Lucius asked curiously, "I wasn't aware there were any others."

"That's why Cissy's always been the brains of your marriage Lucy dear." Bellatrix shot back as she began to walk into the house without bothering to wait for Lucius's permission. Lucius snorted in annoyance before resigning himself to following his guest and waiting for her to explain just what in the name of Merlin she was rambling about.

Bellatrix did not seem especially inclined to do so, as she instead headed for the wine cellar and served herself a tall glass of two hundred year-old firewisky. Only once she had taken a long drink worth several thousand galleons did Bella at last turn back to Lucius, "Well since you've been such a good boy Lucy I guess I owe you an explanation."

"You'd best." Lucius drawled back, adding the slightest bit of edge to his tone as he fingered his wand threateningly. Bellatrix seemed not to notice as she sprawled on a nearby chair before replying, "It's a rather odd story Lucius. You see, a few hours ago I had the unenviable pleasure of realizing that Potter had just offed out most eminent Dark Lord."

"A few hours ago? Bella, that was years ago! I know your insane, but this is really a low point even for you.!"

"I'm getting there Malfoy, calm down!" Bella snarled, her wand suddenly in her hand. and aimed between his eyes. Holding the threatening pose for a moment, Bella at last sighed and put down her wand, "Anyways, after Potter killed the Dark Lord I apparated behind him and tried to finish him off. Somewhere in the course of our little brawl we both fell through a dimensional rift. After that aside from a brief misunderstanding with the aurors and an oath truce with Potter I came directly here." Bellatrix drawled causally.

"How brief was this misunderstanding?" Lucius drawled back with a Malfoy smirk firmly in place. Bellatrix had been an unholy terror in the Dark Lord's first rise, capable of decimating at least five aurors at once by herself.

"I wasn't wearing a watch, but if those idiots lasted longer than a minute against us I'd be surprised."

"Us?"

"I could have taken them alone, but they pissed Potter off too so he joined in on the fun."

"Potter killed an auror?" Lucius stammered in disbelief Bellatrix nodded happily in answer as she drained the rest of the firewhiskey. "Potter, as in the golden boy, lion-loving Dumbledore's lack-witted pawn Potter _killed an auror?"_

"Actually I think he got eight of them." Bellatrix drawled back as she absently drew the dagger Potter had given her and began to pick the last of the blood out from under her nails, "Though I could be wrong, we were rather too busy trying to kill each other to get a good count."

Lucius was left simply staring speechless at Bellatrix's casual pronouncement. Bella simply looked at him in amusement, "Oh do get that expression off your face Lucius, you look like Goyle. Now do something useful with yourself and tell me where all the rest of the Death Eaters are."

Lucius hesitated for a moment, the answer to that question would have been the wet dream of any auror. Seeing his hesitation Bella rolled her eyes and wordless hurled a _Crucio _curse at Lucius who screamed in agony as the angry red beam made contact. Bella didn't bother to hold the curse for more than a few seconds before freeing Lucius with an elegant twirl of her wand.

"Come on Lucy, I'm not an auror! Though, if Cissy's into it I could pretend..." Bellatrix trailed off with a mad sort of giggle as she carelessly lined up her wand for another _Crucio. _Lucius scowled in anger at her statement, Bellatrix or not this bitch was going to pay for that! No one cursed a Malfoy and got away with it.

Pretending to be opening his mouth to answer her question Lucius instead threw himself to the side at the last second, shooting a bone shredding curse at Bellatrix as he rolled for cover. Bella swiftly raised a pale blue shield in response, deflecting the dark spell off into a nearby table with ruinous results.

Lucius continued to hurl curses at a dizzying pace as he fought to break through Bella's dark Aegis shield. He was rewarded a moment latter as it crumbled under the combined pressure of a hellfire bolt and three darts of pure black magic energy. Before he could press his advantage Bella was moving, her long black hair dancing about her as she cast on the run.

Lucius meanwhile held his ground as he assumed a traditional dueling stance the Malfoy had favored for thirty two generations. Arm slightly bent with his right leg placed in front he calmly shielded himself, refusing to engage in the indignity of running about if he could avoid it.

Dark hexs filled the air between the two as Lucius was slowly forced to give ground before the furious assault of the witch. She was simply too fast and too sure in her movements for him to ever land more than a glancing blow.

As bone-breakers gave away to suffocation and impaling hexs the room around the two was shredded to pieces, priceless artifacts and relics exploding all around the two. Finally, just as the structural integrity of the walls themselves began to give way Bella ended the fight with a burst of necromantic energy, sucking the power from Lucius's blood shield and leaving him exposed to her follow up _Crucio._

She advanced slowly towards the writhing Malfoy, somehow managing to twirl her wand while still holding the _Crucio _steady. Only when she closed to within a foot of the prone man did she at last release the curse. As Lucius lay gasping on the ground she slowly bent down to whisper in his ear, "You'd better hope I really am Bellatrix Lucy, or you'll have to add someone else to the list of two people who have ever beaten you.

Lucius could only nod weakly in reply Dumbledore and Bellatrix had both bested him the first war, somehow succeeding even as he laid the likes of Moody and the famed Auror Nicholas Damien low with almost causal ease. Voldemort easily could have as well, but Lucius had never been mad enough to cross wands with the strange creature that was his Dark Lord

Dueling ran in the blood of the Malfoy's, literally due to a series of dark rituals performed at an heir's coming of age that passed hundreds of years of inherited knowledge down. The knowledge came though more clearly in some than others, the ancient secrets raced more readily through the blood of the most exultant of the Malfoy clan. The average heir could access reflexive fragments from time to time, hear an odd voice with a dark spell in their ear when they needed it most. The reflexes never left Lucius, the voice always whispered at the edge of his mind. Still, if the dueling ran in the veins of the Malfoy clan then murder ran hard and fast in the cold blood of the Black family.

"Now ickle Lucy," Bella began, "I believe you were going to tell me where the rest of the death eaters are."

Lucius glared at Bellatrix even as he nodded his assent while pulling himself up off the ground with a pained effort. "Fine Bella. Cissy is here of course, Avery is hiding somewhere in the south of France, McNair fled to America after he got caught red handed and axed in the middle of a muggle massacre."

"He never really was too bright." Bella commented, "I'm surprised he escaped."

"McNair may not be too bright but he's strong as an ox and deadly with that axe of his. From the reports I was able to steal from the ministry he killed a pair of aurors before turning his axe into a portkey. But in any case, I do believe we are digressing. Who else would you like to hear about?" Lucius replied.

"Rookwood, Nott, that idiot husband of mine and his brother should do for now. To be perfectly honest I could give a damn where the likes of that inept Jugson happen to be holed up." Bella drawled back

"Rookwood is actually still in the ministry, managed to get away with the _imperio _defense somehow. Nott is still in his ancestral manor, I managed to bribe enough people to get him off."

"And my Husband?"

"Ahh...yes... well... sadly your husband is still in Azkaban, we never got the chance to break him or his brother out." Lucius muttered nervously, eyeing Bella's wand. His Bella's temper had been second only to the Dark Lord's, and this one did not seem to be much different. Much to his relief she used her wand to summon another bottle of firewiskey rather than curse him. Taking a long pull straight from the bottle Bella smiled down at Lucius, "Well then Lucy, I guess we'll just have to go get him."

"Impossible Bella. It will take an arch mage to bring down the wards Dumbledore put up over the island at the end of the war. As long as those things are standing anyone with a dark mark who even comes withing a mile of Azkaban is rather rudely apparated a few miles straight down.

So, Unless you happen to know where to find an arch mage other than the old man Rudolphus is going to have to stay where he is for now." Lucius replied back calmly, secretly grateful that the insane witch in front of him would have no valid excuse to drag him on some foolhardy attack on the wizard prison.

Bellatrix simply smiled radiantly in response, "Don't worry Lucy, I know just where to find one."


	8. Interlude 1: Unfortunate Events

A/N: Alright been having a bit of trouble uploading and had to do it as text, so I apologize for any formatting errors in advance.

1.Don't own anything

2. This is, as the title suggests, and interlude. we'll get Harry action next chapter and Harry/Bella interaction the chapter after.

3. Keep reading and **reviewing**, you guys rock at more than 1,000 hits per chapter :)

Chapter 8 Interlude 1: Unfortunate Events

Sirius watched his cousin from the shadows as he slunk through the exclusive Mastra alley in his animagus form. Narcissa strode around the alley like she owned the place, head held high with a Malfoy arrogance she had only too quickly picked up after marrying Lucius.

Sirius bit back the low growl that pulsed in his throat as he watched. No sense in giving away his position yet. He had to be careful here, unlike in Knockturn alley, where a grim would simply be taken as part of the ambience, a large and mangy black dog in this part of town would draw attention.

And attention was the last thing he needed before confronting his dangerous cousin. Sirius knew he wasn't a match for Narcissa in a straight up fight: in addition to being a rune mistress, the true blood of the blacks flowed through her, granting her a killer instinct that he had lost after being blasted from the tapestry.

At the time he had welcomed the calming of the bloodlust he had been forced to fight for his entire young life, yet now, as he stalked through the darkest part of the wizard world taking revenge on the death eater scum who had cost his godson his life, he missed it.

Still, it wouldn't matter here. Vengeance was more than enough by itself to give him the ability to shoot his treacherous cousin in the back. He had to strike soon though, before he accidently set off one of the countless runic wards Narcissa never went without.. Sirius though as he watched his cousin pause in front of Divine Runes, a small store that, contrary to its name,  
actually sold runes of demonic summoning and the darkest necromancy.

I better hit her before she gets into that shop. No need to give her a chance to summon demons if my first shot somehow fails to kill her. Sirius thought as he silently shifted into his human form and trained his wand on Narcissa. He briefly considered the killing curse before deciding that silent casting was worth a slight drop off in power.

Sirius moved his wand in a complex circle before thrusting it forward with a silent snarl, unleashing a foot-thick band of pure dark energy. The Sapens curse he used was a dark magic derivative of the ancient necromancy rune Saipenits Vitia used to power some of the most gruesome immortality it rites. Unlike the rune, which drew the victim's energy into the caster, the dark spell simply released the stolen energy in a conclusive blast.

Sirius watched in glee as the beam of energy closed in on Narcissa's back, only to scowl as his cousin spun with inhuman speed and caught the blast in a small circular rune she held easily in her left hand.

Damn proximity wards must have warned her. Sirius thought as he swiftly sent a hail of dark curses at his cousin, hoping to overwhelm her before she could take the offensive. His plans were thrown awry as Narcissa calmly raised a dark Aegis shield with her wand and absorbed his curses.

Smiling wickedly Narcissa tapped the rune in her left hand with her wand as soon as she was sure the shield was holding. Sirius's eyes widened in horror as his own curse shot back at him out of the rune. Diving to the side, he narrowly avoided the beam of dark power.

Regaining his feet Sirius was instantly put on the defensive as his cousin attacked with all of the legendary Black savagery, hurling a Firis and Infiris curse as she sought to either freeze or immolate him at the cellular level. He dodged them both, silently thanking his animagus form for the enhanced reflexes it granted him.

Knowing that he had to regain the offensive soon Sirius countered with a swift trio of stabbing runes and was rewarded as one slipped through Narcissa 's dark aegis shield to send her staggering backwards with a deep wound in her right shoulder.

Narcissa snarled in rage as she watched the blood drip onto her thousand galleon dress,"Sirius you bastard! You'll pay for that!" Narcissa screamed as she raised a new aegis shield and grabbed at her bag for a rune. Sirius didn't bother to answer back, simply sending a killing curse back in response.

Narcissa rolled to the ground to avoid the killing curse, only to come up wand blazing as she shot a burst of poisonous gas at her cousin. Sirius twirled his wand in response, banishing the lethal vapor into a crowd of over curious onlookers who were beginning to aim their wands at him.

When he turned his attention away from the cloud and back to Narcissa he was horrified to note that she had used his distraction to trace a rough pentagram in the ground and was even now chanting in a long dead tongue over it.

"Cissy are you mad?" Sirius screamed, "You can't summon a demon in the middle of an alley!"

"Watch me cousin dear." Narcissa drawled as she finished the incantation. The pentagram began to pulse with unholy light as she finished. Slowly the pulses sped up until, with a clap of thunder and flash of blinding light a small gargoyle like creature stood before Narcissa.

"Kill him." She commanded the imp, pointing imperiously at Sirius.

Sirius meanwhile had not been idle as the demon tore its way into the mortal realm. He had quickly drawn a circle of protection around him, sealing it with one of the few light based spells that would still respond to his unforgivable tainted call.

The demon rushed him, only to fall back as it reached his circle, screaming in agony as its unholy flesh smoked. Sirius smirked in triumph to his sister at her demon's failure even as an insidious idea seized a hold of him. Grinning like the time the Marauders had turned the entire Syltherin house a particularly hideous shade of pink Sirius waved gleefully to his cousin as he banished the demon straight back at her.

The small imp flew through the air with a startled shriek. A moment latter it crashed into Narcissa, tearing through the pentagram over which she had not bothered to erect a protective circle.

Narcissa had a moment to stare at her cousin in abject horror before the pentagram split with an earth shattering roar, dragging her and the demon straight back down to the underworld in a writhing black vortex.

"That'll teach you to battle summon a demon Cissy." Sirius said triumphantly. A moment latter he was broken out of his triumph by a loud clearing of a throat behind him. Whirling, Sirius found himself staring down the wands of twenty three aurors.

"Shit." He eloquently exclaimed as a veritable hail of stunners slammed into him.

* * *

Hermione watched Harry sleep with small frown of worry on her face. He was so different than he used to be. So dark, so grim; not even during the worst of the Triwizard tournament could she remember having felt so much pain radiating from her friend. 

Friend. Really more than that now she thought with a happy sigh. She had taken the last five days off of work and they had scarcely left the bedroom in that time. It was odd now to think that she had been terrified when she first went to kiss him that he would turn her away, that he wouldn't love her like she had dreamed he did.

It still sometimes scared her when she caught him looking at her oddly. Scared her that he might remember that he was from another world, a world that had no place for her.

Even as she watched him now Harry began to thrash and moan in his sleep as another otherworldly nightmare seized hold of him. He had been having them every night from the moment he would fall asleep. At first she was terrified as she watched him thrash about, to moan words to soft to make out. She had tried everything to fight them back from potions to simply holding him close. Nothing worked. Every night it came just as bad as the last.

Tonight was no different as she watched him thrash around, yet this time she thought she could finally begin to make out what he was saying. Bending her ear close to listen Hermione was sure that it was a word, the same word over and over again.

"..Bella...no...don't...no...Bella...kill...dead...no!" Harry moaned feverishly into her ear as he writhed in the nightmares grip. Hermione leaned back from him with a start as she made out the words. Bella? It had to be a name.

A name, a woman's name. Not her name. She thought as a chill rushed through her. There was another, someone else. Impossible. Harry was hers. No, it had to be something else. Some other reason that name was important to him. Yes that was it, use your mind Hermione she thought desperately as she climbed out of the bed to pace quietly about the room.

Maybe it was a guardian figure from the other world, some kind of godmother or friend of his parents. Surely he would call for someone like that at night, dream of their death. Yes that could be it. A perfectly rational explanation.

She'd just have to ask Harry about it in the morning, maybe help him talk through his grief. Yes thats exactly what she would do Hermione thought with a contented sigh as she climbed back into bed and pulled Harry close to her before she fell asleep.

* * *

Severus slammed the door to his private potions chamber shut in a blinding rage. The gall of the Headmaster to calmly inform him that the Potter brat was back from the dead and then, somewhere in the midst of the conversation slip in the boy had the aura of a dark arch mage. Albus had of course been quick to assure him that the boy was no danger; that he, in his infinite wisdom had the lad's trust and would take care of the problem. 

Severus had not lived as long as he had by trusting his life to the actions of others. No, he would take care of this new Potter brat himself before the boy came for him. A number of possible solutions flew through his head as he examined the tools of his trade laid out before him. Poison was an old stand-by, deadly, simple and reliable. It might work, but poisons had always acted oddly around the Potter brat.

Twice he had deliberately poisoned the boy in his class, not lethally, just enough to teach him that arrogance and potions don't mix. Each time what should have been enough poison to leave the boy bedridden for days didn't so much as touch him.

It was odd and it was disturbing. Potions did not fail. They never failed. Fucking Potters. Still, if poison was out that still left so many other wonderful options for dealing with the spawn of James. Severus thought with delight as he picked up a small black vial.

Poison was certainly not the only way in which a potion could kill a man. There were potions like the one he held now to bend the mind of a man to his will. No one would ever look for a potion master's hand when someone simply threw themselves off a build. Yes, that had worked rather well for him in the past.

Still, potions were hard to administer, requiring him to get close to the brat, or find someone else who could. Since the headmaster had mentioned Potter had gone to see the bushy-  
haired menace that was liable to be nigh-on impossible. Much has he hated the girl he had to admit that she guarded her privacy very well.

This thought brought Severus to pick up the final object that lay out on his desk. It was a simple black pendant, made of onyx and forged into the shape of a leering skull it was the last remnant of Severus death eater days now that the mark had faded. He had never fully told Albus what he did, after all the old man might believe in second chances, but even he would not have been so foolish as to offer it to Lord Voldemort's master of assassins.

He had served as the dark lords contact to some of the more exotic and deadly mercenary groups that would take out targets too well defended from the dark lord to risk his inner circle death eaters against. The pendant he held now was the much coveted calling stone for the guild of assassins, a shadowy federation that operated out of northern Germany and controlled the contracts and contacts for nearly ninety percent of the assassins in the western world.

This Potter brat may have the aura of a dark arch mage, but he was still a Potter, he'd never be a match for a kill-squad from now disbanded ranks of the magical arm of the KGB. And, if by some miracle he was, there would be way on earth to trace it back to Severus.


	9. A Rare display of Ministry Competence

A/N: Sorry about the delay guys. exams and such tied me up for awhile but thats over now.

1.Don't own anything.

2.Keep reading and **reviewing**, great response so far :)

3.I've tried a slightly new style in this chapter tell me what you think.

Chapter 9

A Rare Display of Ministry Competence

_Harry and Remus stalked slowly down one of the endless twisted corders which filled Silverbane, the fortress of the late Fenrir Greyback. They had captured the werewolf leader a month before and only today had he at last been 'persuaded' to reveal the location of the fortress._

_Now Order and Ministry kill squads hunted through the vast underground labyrinth, searching for the remnants of Greybacks's army. Screams echoed off the walls from time to time as charmed communicators crackled with static and burst of frantic chatter. The werewolves were not content to go quietly into the proverbial night._

_Harry tapped Remus on the shoulder briefly, signaling his intent to blast the door in front of them. Remus nodded, signaling back his agreement. Harry braced himself for a brief moment before stabbing his wand forward in a wordless blasting curse. _

_The door shuddered under the impact, its vast metal frame slowly deforming as Harry held the spell steady. Finally, with a wretched din of metal tearing, the door flew from its hinges._

_Harry and Remus rushed into the room a moment behind the deadly iron missile. Ten werewolves waited for them. Ten killing curses flew towards them. _Idiots_. Harry thought as he conjured a cloud of metal fragments to absorb the curses. Before another curse could sizzle through the air Remus was upon them. _

_Remus didn't even bother with his wand as he tore through the younger werewolves with a snarl of rage. He took his species defection to the dark side personally. Bodies flew away from him as superhuman strength fueled righteous fury._ _Harry didn't bother to help. Remus never really appreciated people interrupting the few moments in his life when he could unleash the wolf. _

_Just as the last werewolf settled to the ground in an unmoving heap, a frantic alarm sounded from Harry's communicator. "Warning! Warning! Ministry kill squads Alpha, Delta and Epsilon are down! I repeat Alpha, Delta, Epsilon down! We have a counterattack on the uppermost levels. Dark Bitch is confirmed, Dark Bastard is not. Rally to point Ultima Seven and prepare to fight our way out!"_

Shit. _Harry though as the warning played over and over again. Bellatrix and probably a few hundred death eaters. Not what they needed right now. At least Voldemort hadn't decided to join the party himself._

_Grabbing Remus Harry quickly activated his Ultima portkey, transporting the two of them to the first floor rally point they had cleared the wards from after entering the fortress. They found a firefight of epic proportions awaiting them._

_Thirty members of the Order, including nearly half of the inner circle, along with two full divisions of aurors were locked in desperate brawl with close to one hundred death eaters. Both sides were stuck at a choke point and it was turning into a bitter war of attrition as they each pressed hard won battle tactics into practice. _

_Killing and blasting curses intermingled as both sides combined two of the deadlier spells available to the average wizard. There was no protection against such a combination. Blasting to destroy physical barriers and keep going. Killing to tear straight through anything else._

I've got to break this deadlock. Fucking Volde's got to many grunts for us to trade lives like this. _Harry thought as he grabbed Remus and three aurors, who had the misfortune of standing close to him, and apparated straight through the wards to a position fifty meters behind the death eaters._

_Harry appeared with his wand already blazing. A dark cloud of necromantic energy exploded against the rear ranks of the enemy, killing ten and rasing their bodies as Inferni. Before the death eaters had a chance to turn and face the new attack Remus and the aurors had added to the chaos: throwing a hail of blasting curses into the tightly packed ranks of the death eaters._

_Panic reigned among the dark forces as Harry and his men tore through their rear ranks. It would have been the end for the death eaters, trapped between the hammer of Harry and the anvil of the Order, if Bella hadn't been there. But Bella was brilliant. And more importantly, Bella was insane._

_The eldest living Black collapsed the entire corridor ceiling with an ancient stone working spell. Huge shards of rock took a murderous toll on both sides as only the quickest and strongest managed to raise shields in time to survive the avalanche._

_Harry slowly rose to his feet as the last of the stones clattered to the ground. He had managed to shield Remus and one of the aurors closest to him. The other two had not been so lucky._

_Slowly others began to emerge from the wreckage. First Mad-Eye, his battered face covered in dust, but otherwise unharmed. Others followed in his wake, aurors and Order members. Not a single death eater stirred._

"_May you rot in hell Bella." Harry said as he gazed at the newly made tomb of Sirius's murder. _

"_Not without you Potter." Bella screamed as she burst out from under the pile of rocks, twenty death eaters surrounding her. Everyone stared at the cackling witch in utter horror. Was she immortal? Nothing should have survived being at the epicenter of such a collapse._

_Bella simply titled her head and looked at them with a wicked smile, "Awww has the ickle Order never of the disintegrator shell? Pity." Bella finished with a mocking wink to Harry as her death eaters attacked the still stunned forces of the light. Half of the ministry aurors died in the barrage before the survivors had recovered enough sense to throw up shields and fall back._

_Even as the death eaters attacked the main force Bella and one other masked figure strode towards Harry's company. The auror whom Harry had saved chose this moment to exhibit a rather foolish hero complex as he charged towards Bellatrix. Bella simply sidestepped casually and stabbed him in the back with a dagger move too fast for the eye to follow._

"_Idiot Lions always trying to make a fair fight." Bella drawled as she moved to face Remus leaving her companion to duel with Harry._

'_Scared of me Bella?" Harry taunted as he circled her companion._

"_Hardly Harry. I just want to see your face when I kill your pet." Bella shot back as she struck out at Remus with lightning speed, sending a hail of silver shards against him. Remus crouched low and managed a shield to deflect the silver harmlessly away._

_Meanwhile Harry had attacked at the same moment as Bella. Remus was no match for the dark witch. He had to finish his opponent and fast. Killing curses followed necromantic runes as Harry forced his enemy back with the most brutal spells in his arsenal._

_The death eater was good. Too good to fall easily to such an assault. Dark shields rose to meet dark curses and counter runes filled the air as the space between them crackled with energy. Slowly between an endless stream of curses the two of them built an intricate tapestry of runic magic. Fiery silver and black shapes burned in the air as the dance of move-counter move became ever more complex. Combinations to suck the others soul to the depths of hell met ancient elven life shields while runes of fire and death shattered each other._

_Finally Harry broke the deadlock, shattering his opponents runes with a light based hammer rune. His foe had one moment to stare in horror before all the gathered runes descending upon him, tearing him apart in a storm of raw magical energy. _

_Harry spun away from his foe intent upon Bella. He was just in time to watch, helpless as Remus flew through the air, a silver spike through his chest..._

"_NO! REMUS! BELLA! .I WILL...KILL!" Harry screamed in incoherent rage even as the old nightmare dissolved about him_

Harry awoke with a start, shooting bolt upright in bed. For a horrific moment he panicked at his unfamiliar surroundingsbefore slowly relaxing as the memories of the last five days returned to him. _Hermione's. You're just at Hermione's. _He thought with a relieved sigh as he slowly rolled out of bed.

The nightmares had not abated like he'd hoped. If anything that had grown worse and worse as the days went by. The first few nights Hermione had tried to everything she could think of to fix them. She had given up in the end, just like everyone else. In a strange way the nightmares were part of him. He had never been without them. From back in his cupboard when he dreamed of half-seen flashes of green light, through Hogwarts and all the pain of Voldemort they had never left him.

Now though he didn't dream of the Dark Lord. Didn't see the last moments of his parents over and over again. No, all he saw was Bella. Bella killing. Bella ripping his life apart. _God I hate her_. Harry raged, his magic unconsciously rising to his angry. It crackled all about him in a chaotic swirl of black, grey and red. Once, before the war, it had been pure white with just the barest spot of black to mark the Dark Lord's presence.

The white had disappeared, one unforgivable at a time. One death. One kill. In the end they had warped him, twisted his aura as only the darkest arts and acts may do. It was true what they said about the dark arts: to a point. One killing curse did not make a person evil. Hell, one _Crucio_ didn't.

No, it took hundreds upon hundreds before one would truly first begin to feel the taint eat away at the soul. Hermione had discovered the reason behind it near the middle of the war. _His Hermione. Not this Hermione. _A voice nagged in the back of Harry's mind before he ruthlessly suppressed it.

The unforgivables and all of the modern dark arts, to which they were the forerunners, were based on turning black magic into a combat ready form. To do so they took a dangerous shortcut. Black magics such as necromancy used foci and sacrifice, blood or otherwiseas a buffer to channel the twisted energies of the death.

The creator of the first of the unforgivables, _Avada Kedevra_ was a arch-necromancer who was waging a losing war against the elemental powers of Atlantis. His magic was simply too slow or required too much power to field an army to match that of the great wizard nation. In desperation he had tampered with the life snuffing ritual until he managed to transform it.

Instead of being channeled through a magically constructed ball of necro-energy that was completely separate from the caster he had just routed it back through the soul. It was a brilliant discovery, as the soul acted as a ready channel for death magics.

It was only years latter that the effects began to be seen. Auras degraded. Madness set in. In the most extreme cases those who had wielded the killing curse through the long war became veritable dark creatures, their souls so twisted with death magic that spells of light and life would forever be denied to them.

Harry wasn't quite to that point yet, though he was rapidly closing in. Already his dark spells worked with more and more ease while his light based ones slowly degraded in power. _Cost of war. Besides, Remus was a dark creature. Nothing wrong with it. _Harry thought with a sad sigh as he slowly made his way down the stairs.

He came down to the kitchen to find Hermione already at the table absently eating eggs while reading a book that couldn't have weighed less than thirty pounds. _Well at least some things never change. _Harry thought as he sat down at the table and poured himself a full glass of pumpkin juice. After taking a long pull at his glass he reached out across the table for the morning paper.

What he saw made him spit the juice right back out. All over Hermione's book. She raised her head from the book with an annoyed look, "Was that really necessary Harry?" Hermione asked with an almost Snape like eyebrow arch.

Harry simply snarled and threw the front page over to her. Catching it deftly Hermione's eyes widened as he read the headline:

_Sirius Black Recaptured After Public Attack on Cousin._

_Ministry aurors responding to a distress call from Mastra Alley were shocked to find the infamous fugitive Sirius Black out in the open dueling with his cousin Narcissa Malfoy. Although aurors were not able to intervene before Black slew the much beloved Malfoy Matriarch, they were able to at last recapture the fugitive._

_This paper expects that Black will, after his deplorable rampage (see page 3,4, and 6) , finally be given the dementor's kiss he so richly deserves..._

"I'm sorry Harry." Hermione said softly as she watched him reread the article over and over again.

Harry didn't bother to look up to acknowledge her, his gaze still firmly locked in disbelief on the picture of twenty proud aurors standing around the battered and bound form of his godfather.

_No. I will not loose him again. _Harry snarled to himself as he tore the paper in half. He rose from his seat with murder in his eyes as he summoned his weapons. They came in a horde. Twenty three knives. One wand. One dagger. Bella's dagger. Ironic that the bitch who killed Sirius in the old world might help free him in this one, Harry thought with a grim but satisfied smirk. _I'll have to be sure to use the knife in the break out. That'll piss Bella off_.

He was just about to walk out the door and apparate to the gates of Azkaban when he felt someone grab his shoulder from behind. Reacting on instinct he spun, halting the blade a half-second early as his conscious mind kicked in to remind him Hermione was the only one in the house.

"Harry! What in Merlin's name do you think you are doing?" Hermione screeched at him after pausing briefly to step back from the dagger that had almost cut her throat.

"Rescuing my godfather. What does it look like Hermione?"

"It looks like you've gone off your rocker! You can't just march up to the gates of Azkaban and take him!"

"I can and I will unless there's a better option. Happen to have any high level ministry contacts that could get him a trial and finally clear his name?"

"I don't think that would be a very good idea Harry." Hermione said mournfully as she looked determinedly at the strand of hair she was winding between her fingers.

"What do you mean not a good idea?"

"Sirius was innocent at the end of our third year. He's not know."

"I doubt he managed to resurrect my parents and betray them again Hermione." Harry said coldly.

"That's not what I meant! What I am trying to tell you as that after that your death Sirius went mad. He's been hunting down every supporter of the Dark Lord he can lay his hands on! He's killed at least forty people in the last ten years, some of them in broad daylight! If we put him up on the stand he'll get off on the charges of betraying your parents, but will end up buried by all the other things _he actually did do!"_

"We'll, I guess we're back to the break him out of Azkaban option then." Harry replied blandly as he wrenched free from Hermione's grip and apparated away. Hermione stared at the spot where he had been standing in shock. Harry had just left. Just left her to go recuse a mass murderer. Left and gone to get himself killed!

No. It wasn't fair. It wasn't possible. Harry was supposed to listen to her advice. If he came back; No, when he came back she'd give him a piece of her mind. He really needed to get over that damned hero complex of his. She wouldn't let it kill him again.

* * *

Harry tore through the wards around the isle of Azkaban as though they were made of paper. Hundreds of alarm bells were already sounding as his feet touched solid ground. _Hmm, that may have been a poor life choice. _Harry thought idly as the warning claxons set off by the wards collapse sounded shrilly in his ears.

Right on the heels of the alarm a full squad of aurors stormed out from the main-gate, wands raised and ready for action. They never had chance. Harry struck hard and fast, sending a massive ball of molten fire into their midst. He didn't relish killing auror's, but he was even less fond of leaving enemies alive at his back.

Harry walked calmly through the now open gates, pausing for a moment to silence the alarm with a quick elven rune. The fortress he entered was the same twisted nightmare of cold, dark corridors he remembered from all those years ago...

_He rushed through its halls, Bill and Fred at his back. Voldemort had already seized the upper levels and, with his dementer allies, was threatening to take control of the entire prison. This could not be allowed. The defenses Azkaban boasted would afford him a fortress almost on par with Hogwarts..._

Harry dived for cover as a barrage of red spells shot through the space he had been occupying a moment before. Aurors. At least ten of them attacking him through an ancient crack in the ceiling. He was just about to raise his wand to burn them out when an all too familiar feeling of soul numbing cold began to creep up on him.

_Dementors. Shit. _Harry thought as he spun to summon a Patronus. It was too late. Already the edge of their presence ripped into his memories, drawing the darkest of them into the light one by one...

_Bill was blown off his feet. Killing curse. No time to mourn. Ten death eaters in front, a hundred dementors behind. We should have just let him have the fucking rock. Fred went mad at the death of his brother. Killing curses. Blasting curses. Some weird spell of his own devising that turned a pair of death eaters into blocks of Swiss cheese_.

"_Expecto Patronem!" _Harry yelled in desperation, trying to ward off the dementors before the memories grew worse. Prong's form leaped out, but it was weak and dark, not the majestic creature who had once turned back a hundred dementors on its own. Too many dark spells, too many dark actions had stripped from Harry the ability to summon such a light based spell as the Patronus.

_Fred was down now too. Lung rending curse. Not a good way to go. He was alone. Five death eaters left. The dementors growing closer by the moment. No choice now. Harry thought as he gathered energies Dumbledore had begged him never to unleash. _

_Dark fire poured from Harry, engulfing the death eaters with a vicious and malignant will all its own. _Necran Demaritam. _The darkest of magic. Based not on necromancy, but on the lost branch of sadomancy. It did not kill, it tortured. It maimed until the victim begged for death. And then it tore their souls to pieces, scattering them to the depths of the underworld._

_Unblockable without the one counter-curse it cleared his way..._

The dementors were too close now. He could vaguely hear the aurors pounding down the stairs, coming towards him. He had to gather his strength. Had to throw this off, but the dementors were too many, too strong...

_Slow applause greeted him as he walked past the writhing death eaters. Spinning Harry found himself looking at the all too familiar form of Bellatrix Black. "Bravo Potter, I didn't think you had it in you after that Pathetic _Crucio."

"_Bella." Harry spat as he prepared to strike._

"_Are we on such familiar terms now? I'm touched Potter." Bella drawled as she too fell into a dueling stance._

"_Didn't you get the news Bella? We're family now. Though I must admit that while signing all of those bothersome documents I think I may have accidently disinherited you. Pity." Harry said with false cheer._

"_If I had known that's all it would have cost me to kill the mutt, I must admit I would have gone about it ages ago." Bella drawled back in reply before attacking..._

Must. Get. Out. Harry thought frantically as he struggled to hold off what he knew came next...

_Harry dodged the curse easily and moved to strike back, "Your aims a little off Bella. Dementors getting to you? Its really too bad you weren't there for your husbands last moments. I'm sure you would get to relive his screams!"_

_Bella roared in rage before calming herself down, "Well Potter we can't all have as much fun with dementors as you. Speaking of which I've got a little present that I was saving for a special occasion. It does seem to go with the decor here, so I might as well give it to you now." She finished with a malicious grin while casting a wordless summoning charm. _

_From the depths of Azkaban a red missile shot up and into her hand. For a moment Harry didn't know what it was. Then Bella shifted her burden. Ginny's face stared up at him. Bloody. Broken. Lifeless._

"_The red does go rather nicely with the floor don't you think. It was thoughtful of the Weasly's to have enough children to do an entire room in that theme." Bella taunted..._

"Nooooo!" Harry screamed in agony as the dementors and aurors closed in around him. A wave of accidental magic shot froth, driven by his pain and threw them all back. The aura of the dementors diminished for a brief moment as they flew through the air. It wasn't much, but it was enough for Harry to wrench himself away from Azkaban. Apparating back to Hermione's front lawn in a heap.

* * *

Kingsley raced through the halls of the DMLE with a report clutched tightly in his hand. He did not slow his pace until he came to the door of Amelia office. Knocking once he didn't bother to wait for a reply before entering.

Amelia shot him a scowl at his behavior which only disappeared as she watched him cast every security charm he knew on the already warded office. When he was done Kingsley turned back to Amelia with an apolligetic smile, "Sorry director, but I don't think we want this news leaking."

"More information on our mysterious pair?"

"Aye Amelia. Seems one of them attacked Azkaban this morning."

"WHAT! Did he succeeded?" Amelia asked frantically as she tired to imagine the PR disaster such an event would be so soon after the capture of Sirius Black..

"No minister, though he came too close for my comfort. He killed Alpha squad at the gates and then penetrated all the way to E-Level before being halted by a full coven of dementors."

"Hmm, so he's vulnerable to our dark guards?"

"Exceptionally so Amelia. He was down on his knees as we approached him. Only the burst of accidental magic he let off probably kept him out of our grasp."

"Hmm." Amelia said as she rose from her desk and began to pace the room,"How many people know about this break in?"

"No one but you and I. I _oblivated _the rest of the squad who was with me when we encountered him. The only problem is going to be explaining away the aurors he killed at the front gate."

"Shouldn't be too much of a problem." Amelia mused as she twirled her wand about in thought, "They were at the beginning of a ten day shift, so we have plenty of time to worry about that. No, the important thing is to capitalize on this new weakness. I want dementors deployed with every auror squad."

"That won't go over with the public very well Amelia. Don't you remember the debacle the first time we were out looking for Black?"

"Don't worry about that Kingsley. I'll get Fudge to put his name on the order. We'll call it an experimental program to make aurors accustomed to the effects of dementors incase they ever turn against us." Amelia said thoughtfully in response.

Kingsley nodded in understanding and turned to leave. Before he could go Amelia called to him, "And Kingsley?"

"Yes Director?"

"_Oblivate. _Can't have you running to the headmaster with my plans to topple Fudge or our two lovely friends' weakness now can I?" Amelia said causally as she removed all memories of the Azkaban fight and subsequent conversation from Kingsley before sending him on his way.


	10. I Missed Trying to Kill You

A/N: 1. don't own anything

2. Sorry for the delay, got sidetracked by a combination of real life and terrible block on the first section of this.

3. Most reviews ever for a chapter last time. awsome.

4. Keep reading and keep **reviewing**. you guys rock.

Chapter 10

I Missed (Trying to Kill)You

Hermione was mad. No, Hermione was furious. After Harry had the utter gall to disappear on her she had calmed down by rationalizing that she could set him straight when he came back. He never gave her that chance. The bastard appeared on her front lawn in a magical shock induced coma.

Now, to add insult to injury, he kept calling for _Bella _in his sleep. Not her. Fucking Bella! Godmother (That's what she had to be) or not it wasn't fair! She was the one who had been taking care of him for the last three days! She was the one who he was with. Oh yes, when he woke up they would have to have a talk.

The first signs of Harry awakening came on the fourth day when he managed to moan, "Water..." Instead of his usual, "..Bella..." Hermione instantly leaped to her feet and summoned a glass of water, grateful to finally stop hearing that godforsaken name. Harry took the water gratefully for a few moments before slowly pulling himself into a sitting position.

"Uhh, my head. What happened Hermione?"

"I'm not entirely certain, seeing as you left without me. But, from what I can gather, you decided to storm the gates of Azkaban single-handedly and ended up back on my front lawn an hour latter in a coma." Hermione snapped in frustration as she regarded his nonplused expression.

"Fuck, the dementors." Harry groaned as the memories rushed back to him.

"Among other things I'm sure." Hermione added with a scowl as she regarded him. Harry looked into her blazing eyes and swallowed nervously. That was not a good look to see from Hermione. Full lecture mode combined with genuine righteous anger. At least he had a pillow.

"Now that your awake and done scaring me to death we need to have a little talk." Hermione began in a tone that was nearly a growl. "First of all there is the little matter of this insane hero complex of yours. Just because you're a Lion doesn't mean you have to prove it in every bone-headed way possible! I've lost you once already and I'm not inclined to do so again just because you feel some all consuming urge to attack the most deadly fortress in England without bothering to even make a plan!"

Harry nodded in response as Hermione ranted on for several minutes on the follies of impulsiveness. She was right of course, not that it would stop him from charging straight in if he had to. Strategy had always been Dumbledore's department. His was tactics. Small level combat and instinctual improvisation in the heat of battle. Still, it was probably best not to let Hermione know that. Next time he'd let her make a plan if he could spare a few moments.. It might even help, and it would definitely save him a few hours of his life afterwards.

So caught up in what he had long ago called his 'Hermione lecture mode' he almost chocked when she suddenly changed gears, "Now, the second thing I want to talk about is Bella."

_Bella? How the fuck does she know about Bella? Damn. Must have heard me during the nightmares._ _This could get ugly. Never a fun task to tell your girlfriend that there's someone out for your blood, and by extension hers._

"Now I know its hard to lose a godmother, but really I don't think its healthy to obsess over one person as much as you seem to over her..." Harry registered from Hermione as he broke out of his reverie.

"What? Sorry, I zoned out for a minute there Hermione, but what exactly does Bella have to do with a godmother? As far as I know I don't even have one."

"Oh...but... I... assumed, I mean it only made sense for her to be someone who you lost and were calling for and well, it seemed the most rational choice. I knew your mother and father of course, and sadly your aunt as well, but I figured it must have just been some odd variance from your world..."

Harry looked on at Hermione in horror as she rambled. Bella his godmother? The very notion was terrifying. Holding up a hand to stop her before she passed out from want of oxygen Harry cut Hermione off, "Easy there Hermione. Lets go back and start with that Bella is _not_ my godmother."

"Who is she then? Some old lover you forgot to mention?" Hermione snarled with a cold glint in her eyes.

"_Bellatrix Black_ is a murderous bitch!." Harry snarled back in answer, " We hunted each other across the whole of England in an endless dance of vengeance and death. She drove me to depths of evil you cannot even imagine. _Crucio? _Hah. A sad opening salvo in our exchanges. _Necran Demaritam_, and _Ipsas Agnoi _werewonderful little toys I learned from Bella. I killed as she killed, _tortured_ as she _tortured_.

I don't cry her name in mourning at night remembering some lost lover's embrace. No, Hermione, I scream it in hatred as the pile broken bodies at her feet grows ever larger. She killed Sirius, the only family I had ever so much as glimpsed and for that alone I would hunt her until one of us breathes our last. But, that was not near enough for Bella, oh no; she took more. Ron. George, even Dumbledore in the end."

Hermione stared at him in horror as he spoke, her eyes going wider and wider until they might have given Dobby's a run their money. Finally, when he had at last trailed off into incoherent growls of rage she cut in, "Oh my god, Harry I'm sorry! I just, well...you must know how it sounded to me? Calling for someone else every night, some other woman. I can't say I'm glad to hear the reason, but..." Hermione trailed off abruptly, realizing she may well have gone too far.

"But, you're still happy it wasn't something else." Harry finished for her even as that insidious voice in the back of his mind whispered, "_Jealous? My Hermione is never jealous. Never. But this isn't your _Hermione_, oh no. You can pretend. But Hermione is dead. _Dead_! There all dead, all gone...all but Bella..._

* * *

Bella threw herself underneath a crackling bolt of black magic death with a frantic dive to the left. Her own wand answered back in kind, spitting _Ipsas Agnoi, _the soul writhing curse, back in response. Its sickly green light flew straight and true, only to suddenly wink out of existence with a soft pop in the face of a pale blue runic shield.

From behind the shield Lucius's face was bared in rictus of rage. The death of Narcissa had hit him hard. _Harder than I thought. _Bella mused even as she continued to dodge about the room. _Heartning in a twisted way really. I never knew he cared._

They had dueled nearly constantly since then, taking out rage in a way far more satisfying than torturing house elvesLucius was almost as good as he had been in her world. _Almost. _Bella thought with a sigh as she conjured a cloud of flesh eating beetles to absorb a _Crucio _curse. This Lucius lacked the killer edge from ten years of war that not even his vaunted Malfoy blood legacy could fully imbue.

Oh, his style was the same: fast, brutal and deadly: a true predator in every sense, but they were a fraction of a second slow, a hair weak and just a tad less vicious.Bella mused as he blew her beetles to pieces with a wide arc blasting curse. _My_ _Lucy would have used a dark conflagration there._

A strange sort of sadness welled up in Bella as she danced about the room trading silent curses. The duel was dead. Sterile. Despite the rage that filled both of them the energy she had come to crave, the rush of battle was not there. The air was filled with crashes, explosions and roars of superheated air: a veritable embodiment of the cacophony of battle. And yet, somehow it was missing something.

No taunts flew between them. No Hatred. This was a battle of skill and of power. Magic as the purebloods had meant it to be. It was not enough.

With a disgusted sigh at the empty feeling of the whole thing Bella leaped into battle with redoubled ferocity, peppering Lucius with a flesh shredding hex and a pair of lava bursts.His runic shield held for the barest instant before flickering out of existence with a dull 'squelch.' Lucius tired frantically to renew his shield in the face of her assault, but the flesh shredding hex was simply too fast as it tore through the weak shield he had managed to reraise and stripped his wand arm down to the bone. Howling in agony Lucius fell to the ground.

Bella wasted no time: Lucius had an incredible pain tolerance and would soon master himself if she didn't press her advantage. A stunner finished the fight and Lucius's screams.

Walking over next to his fallen form Bella hesitated to revive him. She needed a moment alone to think. No, no not that. Solitude was madness. Thinking was madness. A legacy of Azkaban that still haunted her to this day. Her peace was found in the arms of her lovers, the heart of battle and the screams of the innocent. Anything that roused the Black battle lust to overshadow the bitter stain Azkaban had left on her soul.

Already she found herself regretting the oath truce with Potter. She needed to kill him. No. That wasn't it. Not kill, she had been telling the truth when she said she was weary of their dance of death, weary of losing everyone around her who could hold the darkness of Azkaban at bay.. No she wanted to fight him. To torture him. To make that brat scream. To have him make her scream...

Yes. That was may have been what she missed most. Lucius was all control, all poise. Ice made human even in the very depths of his pain or rage. She and Potter were fire. Burning, capricious and destructive. Ice and fire may share an opposite kind of beauty, but ice was not what her soul needed to stay kindled against the madness. True madness, irrevocable and final: oh she was mad already. What else were the common wizards to call a woman who's sadism and bloodlust were matched only by her love of her own pain? What else were they to call the one who laughed as the world died around her?

But the cold was a different kind of madness. It would quench her flame. It would be the end of her. Idly Bella toyed with Potter's dagger even as she unconsciously shivered at her thoughts. The idea of using the dagger now was intoxicating. She would need to soon in any case.

Potter was the only one who could get her into Azkaban if Lucius were to be believed. At first, she had been slightly worried about the prospect in spite of the bravado she had shown to the elder Malfoy. Now, sadly enough, with the death of Cissy and subsequent imprisonment of the damned Mutt it would be laughably easy.

No. She had better go soon before Potter attacked the damned place himself. If he freed the Mutt without her there would be no way of convincing him of the need to help her free Rudolphus.

Mind made up Bella grabbed the dagger and whispered, "Potter."

* * *

Harry groaned in pleasure as Hermione 'apologized'deeply for their earlier argument. _Good lord, but my Hermione certainly never did _that. Harry thought with a grunt as Hermione shifted in a most pleasurable way on top of him.

Her apology had been going on for nearly an hour now and Harry was almost spent. Hermione seemed to sense this as she frantically increased her pace. Just as her actions were about to be rewarded with a very satisfied Harry she screamed as a soft 'pop' echoed across the room and a weight settled down on top of her.

There was a moment of mad leg and arm flailing before, with three distinct 'thuds,' three bodies fell haphazardly out of bed. Two of the bodies immediately threw out their hands and cast wandless _lumos_ spells.

"Well Potter." Bella drawled with amusement as she unabshedly looked him up and down in the dim light of the room, "I less disappointed then I expected Harry simply glared at her in response before sighing deeply and snarling, "Too kind as ever Bella, but then again when the standard you have for judgement is that husband of yours I can't help but _tower_ above the competition. Now, what in the name of holy Merlin himself are you doing here?"

" Aww, is ickle Potter not happy to see me?

"Your niether writhing in pain nor bleeding to death Bella, so I'm afraid I'll have to answer in the negative. Now, if you don't mind I was in the middle of something when you decided to pop in."

"Not my fault you forgot to make the portkey conditional. But, if you really feel some urgent need to dirty yourself further with some mudblood whore than feel free, I'll wait." Bella said with a nearly Malfoy-esque smirk as she looked down on the shorter Hermione in clear disdain

"I'm neither certain nor desirous to know what does it for you Bella, but some of us aren't into voyeurism." Harry drawled back as he crossed his arms across his chest in annoyance.

"Well Potter if you didn't insist upon a steady diet of mudbloods I could solve both our problems by joining in the fun. But, sadly the true blood of Black does not soil itself so." Bella said with a perfectly straight face.

As Bella and Harry verbally sparred Hermione lurked in the background, hiding her naked form behind Harry and growing more furious with each exchange. Something was badly wrong here. Harry had talked about Bella as a creature of his old world. She had to be, Bellatrix Black was dead here, killed on the same day as Harry. That meant that somehow...somehow this _Bitch _who was looking at her Harry had come cross worlds as well!

What was worse was Harry hardly sounded surprised by her presence. He knew! He knew she was here and never told her! Bastard. And to think she had felt bad enough to...errrr! There would be words. Words and curses. Hermione thought with a grim frown as she turned her attention back to the steadily escalating verbal battle.

"Need I remind you for the thousandth time Bella _I am the pureblood of Black! _Your just some disinherited tart."

"No matter what those fucking papers you drew up say Harry my blood is far Blacker than yours can ever be! Unlike my pathetic excuse for a cousin I have been judged worthy! The gift of the Blacks is mine of its own volition. Can you say the same Harry? Have you felt the rage? The hatred?" Bella trailed off into a whisper as she unconsciously licked her lips in remembered ecstasy.

"That's enough Bella." Harry snarled as he cut off her mutterings with a harsh hand gesture." Bella slowly raised her violet eyes and locked them on his blazing emerald gaze, "Or maybe you have. Yes. Yes I think you have Harry. You've felt the ecstasy of the Black blood racing through your veins and yet you _dare _continue to debase yourself with a mudblood!"

"The blood of the Blacks as debased itself more than enough without my help" Harry screamed out in frustration as the mad witch ranted on.

Bella continued on as though she hadn't heard him, "I know you've felt it Harry. The liquid fire in your veins; the rush of power! It calls us to slaughter, leads us unto destruction! The Cairo massacre; the slaughter of Blackfire plain Harry. I remember them and so do you. How could a man kill as you did? How could a man who lacked the noble blood of the Blacks unleash the _Necran Demaritam _with such indiscriminate fury? Were the screams music to your ears Potter? The agony of innocent alongside the guilty?"

"I did what I had to Bella. Don't you dare make me into some monestrous copy of yourself! Now, if you have no further business here, begone! Oath truce or not I have no obligation to tolerate your presence."

"Aww, but ickle Potter, we were having such a good time reminiscing. Don't you want the mudblood to know how powerful you are, how cruel?" Bella giggled in her baby voice as she shot a mocking wink at a furious Hermione.

"You know Bella, with an attitude like that its no wonder you haven't gotten laid in ten years." Harry shot back, "Well, that and the fact I killed a few of your better prospects; though, consider the quality of death eaters like Avery I do like to think I was really doing you a favor."

Bella snarled in rage at Harry's remark while her left hand unconsciously drew her wand and pointed it straight at him. Harry responded in kind, summoning his phoenix feather wand from its neglected place on the night-stand.

Seeing the stand off Hermione too lunged for her wand and pointed it at Bella. Harry never broke his gaze from Bella as he calmly said to Hermione with the barest edge of strain creeping into his voice, "Put the wand down Hermione, she can't hurt you unless you attack her."

"That Bitch has her wand pointed at your head Harry! I'm not going to just stand here!" Hermione shouted back as she ignored his order. Harry cursed violently, drawing an appricative smirk from Bella before calming himself down and speaking to Hermione again, "Hermione trust me on this. Put. Down. Your. Wand! She's oath sworn to not attack my friends unless they strike first!"

Hermione glared at Bella for another long moment before at last slowly lowering her wand to the ground. Harry sighed in relief as he watched Bella's expression fall from one of manic glee to mild disappointment, "Sorry Bella. No cheep shots at Hermione. Now, do you have a reason to be here or not? If not my oath sure as hell doesn't prevent me from forcefully Apparating you so long as I send you somewhere harmless. I hear the Bermuda triangle is nice this time of year."

"I've got a reason Harry. You see it has been brought to my attention that the ever righteous old man has decided to raise an arch mage grade ward around Azkaban."

"Are you sure you just aren't getting weak in your old age Bella? I was able to apparate through the wards without any trouble at all."

"Most likely because you don't carry the damn dark mark Harry."

"Forgive if my knowledge is a little off Bella, but neither do you. Tommy boy is dead and, well, not exactly buried, but you get the idea._"_

"Merlin's beard Potter! You really should have done some of your own research. The dark mark might fade with the death of the Dark Lord, but it doesn't disappear, just goes dormant. It's a piece of my soul and there is no way to remove it." Bella snarled in frustration.

"Alright Bella, so there's a bunch of arch mage grade wards around the island that stop you from getting in. Now, you being your usual evil self I'm going to assume that if I bring down these wards you are going to do more than plan a picnic in the pleasant climate of the island."

"My you've gained in perceptiveness over the years Harry." Bella drawled, "I was, in fact, thinking more along the lines of a mass scale breakout, followed perhaps by an encore of seizing the prison or burning it to the ground."

"And just why would I want to help you in this?" Harry shot back, arching an eyebrow cooly even as he fought down the rising tide of hope in his chest. If he could bargain with Bella he might be able to find a way to free Sirius. He would have to be careful to maintain a position of strength though, Bella was ruthless when she sensed weakness.

"Come off it Potter, I read the paper. The Mutt is currently rotting his noble ass off in Azkaban. You help me and I help you free his sorry ass." Bella snapped back.

"And just why do you think I need your help?"

"Well, to be honest it was only an educated guess until a moment ago." Bella drawled with an entirely too satisfied smirk on her face. "You confirmed it for me when you gave me that tale of jaunting through the wards of Azkaban. I hardly expect you would have left that worthless Mutt to the fate he so richly deserves if you could have helped it."

Harry scowled at himself for his foolish mistake before nodding his head slightly in concession to Bella, "Very well Bella, what exactly did you have in mind?"

"Wait!" Hermione screamed from behind him, "You can't actually be going along with this! I know Sirius is important to you Harry, but rescuing him does not justify leading a full scale evacuation of Azkaban!"

"That hardly is my concern Hermione. I honestly don't see why it is yours. Did you not tell me how petty the wizard world is? Who weak and who cruel? Why should I not have what they have stolen from me if the only price is some well deserved pain on their part?" Harry shot back coldly.

"That may be the case Harry, but there are still innocents among them! And they will be the ones who suffer if a pack of death eaters are unleashed! Them and the poor muggles who have done nothing more than exist to warrant their brutal death! You promised to listen to me before you went off rushing headlong into things and I am holding you to that! You cannot go with this bitch! We will find some other way to free Sirius I promise." Hermione pleaded.

"How very Gryffindor." Bella drawled, "Its too bad Mudblood that Harry here abandoned that particular brand of Lion-tripe years ago. He may still be a headstrong idiot without half the cunning a black should have, but at least he's not a _noble _headstrong idiot.

"Enough Bella!" Harry snarled, cutting her off as much as he wanted to agree with her, "You will stop insulting Hermione in her own house!"

"Not bothering to deny what I said are you Harry?" Bella said with triumph as she made a mocking bow of apology directed at Hermione.

Harry sighed deeply as he chanced looking back at the very naked and very angry Hermione, "No Bella I won't deny it. But don't expect me to revel in it either. The light side did what we must during the war to survive. That separated us then and it does now."

"Lies Potter, your founder must be turning over in his grave, but if you insist upon clinging to your illusions then far be it from me to crush them." Bella drawled with a tone suggestion that she would, in fact, like nothing better.

"Now, enough of this dissembling Potter. Do we have an agreement or not? Your aid in exchange for mine. Sirius for Rudolphus and company."

"Aye Bella. When do we strike?"

"Tonight."

"Tonight?"

"Need a dictionary Potter?"

"Hardly. Give me a moment to change into my battle robes. My current attire would not offer the best of protection." Harry drawled with an expansive gesture over his naked form.

"You really should work on that Potter. No sense in letting the blood of mud tainting a child of the Black line." Harry didn't bother to respond to the weak jab, simply settling for flicking Bella off before he stalked out of the room to gather his battle equipment

"I'll be back in five minutes. Don't kill each other." He threw over his shoulder just as he stepped out of the door. For a long moment after Harry had left Hermione and Bella simply glared at each other. Then, Hermione drew herself up to her full height and snarled at Bella, "I don't know who you think you are to bandy around such vile lies about Harry!"

"Lies little mudblood? I spoke nothing but the truth."

"Bullshit! Harry is a Gryffindor true and true. Just because he claimed something else to shut you up means nothing! You have some gall trying to twist his admittedly over-zealous _love _of his godfather into something dark!"

"I refuse to waste my breath arguing with one whose blood is as debased as yours, so let me just leave you with one little thing." Bella grinned evilly as she locked her eerie gave on Hermione, "You can't cast the _Necran Demaritam_ without loving those screams, without hungering for more. Harry may hide it as much as he wants, but Black blood always shows true."

"Your lying. Lying!" Hermione snarled.

"Think what you will little mudblood. But I speak the truth." Bella spat with malicious glee just a moment before Harry entered the room fully armed and armored.

Bella winked at Hermione before strolling up to Harry, grabbing his arm, and vanishing with a harsh 'pop.'

Hermione stared into the empty space for a long moment before murmuring, "Lies. Lies..." Even to her own ears her voice sounded small, alone and far from certain.


	11. Teamwork?

A/N: 1. Don't own anything

2. Longest Chapter ever. Yay. hope you like it.

3. Thanks to everyone who has read and **reviewed. **It really motivates me to write more.

4. Note at the end of the chapter that I didn't want to make people read through before the story so check it if you want.

Teamwork?

Bella stared intently at Harry as he paced back an forth across the small piece of rock she had apparated them to, "I'm sure even you have managed to remember the measurements of this lovely piece of ground after that many passes." Bella mock-simpered sweetly.

Harry glared at her balefully in return, though he did draw to a halt, "I'm thinking Bella, and pacing helps clear my mind." He snapped in irritation at the impatient witch.

"I would recommend torturing muggles instead. Less obnoxious for bystanders." Bella dead-panned, "Besides. What on earth is there to think about? Do you really think I would have asked for your help without a plan?"

"No, Snake that you are I'm sure you have at least half a dozen of them lying around within that vile head of yours. Only problem is I'm not about to trust a single one of them."

"So instead of my crafty and well planned Slythern scheme you want us to rely on some hair-brained Lion plot pulled from your ass on a moments notice?"

"The hair-brained Lion plot as you so kindly put it does have the nice benefit of not being part of some elaborate trap meant to circumvent the oath truce and get me killed." Harry drawled back.

"Please Potter, I plan on killing you myself once this damned thing expires. Besides, I need your help to rescue Rudolphus, murder can wait. Now, if your done protesting, will you listen to my plan?"

"Aye Bella, but if I don't like it we are going back to my plan."

"Its rather simple Potter. You bring down the wards and then we both storm the gates and kill or torture to insanity anything that moves."

"_That's _your elaborate plan? Cunning worthy of a snake indeed. Slaazar is rolling over in his grave for the shame of it all Bella."

"Patience Potter, the devil's in the details..."

* * *

Senior auror Horace was not having a good day. Fuck that, he was not having a good week. First that loony had single handedly tired to storm Azkaban and damned near succeeded. After that the shit-storm that had fallen down from his superiors at the DMLE had made him seriously consider an abrupt retirement. Amelia machinations were growing old. It was one thing to hide a body here or there, to let this criminal go and this other one accidently get fed to the dementers. It was another whole caldron-full of trouble to hide the death of a full squad of aurors from their relatives.

He was just about to dare the fates to make things worse when an alarm began to ring through the dark corridors of the castle. "Bloody Hell! I didn't mean it!." Horace snarled at his general lot in life as he stalked into his office to view the wards control system and see what had set off the alarm.

A quick study of the ancient magic grid showed that the castle was under ferocious attack at the gates as wave after wave of arch mage level magic slammed against the wards. _Looks like he's back for round two. _Horace thought with a sigh as the castles wards matched the attackers magic signature with the one from earlier in the week. _Gotta hand it to the bugger he's persistent._

"This is chief warden Horace!" He yelled into the magical communicator that broadcasted to every corner of the fortress, "We have a code one, I repeat code one, massive frontal attack upon the wards. Rally all squads to the main gate to reenforce wards and prepare for possible breakthrough!"

Horace set the communicator back down on his desk and turned his attention back to the ward grid as he began to divert power from nonessential functions to reinforce the external structural wards. Azkaban had been built with enough power to stop a direct attack by an arch mage, possibly even two or three of them, but the power drain was so massive that it could not run in such a state forever. As such, its wards had been tied to an igneous control grid which allowed the castle's warden to minutely control the power distribution of the wards.

Horace grimly took advantage of this function as he stripped power from the upper and lower-most levels to power the offensive wards that protected the gate. _Lets see how this bugger likes fighting a castle that kicks like a damned arch mage. _Horace thought with satisfaction as he poured enough power into the gates to allow them to strike back with lethal force.

* * *

Harry threw himself to the left as a massive fireball hurtled down at him from the semi-sentient Azkaban. The wards that surrounded the wizard prison had been designed near the end of the fifteenth century by the brilliant and insane wizard Weier, who was not contentwith the passive standard such fastness as Hogwarts had established. Instead of calmly waiting for an enemy to fail at breaching them and setting off some prearranged trap he had twisted the wards to be able to turn their energy outward through a plethora of massive attack spells.

Harry cursed Weier as he fought the castle. The man was too damned good at what he did. Blasting and disintegration curses alternated in a rapid succession even as the castle tried to set the whole plain in front of the gate alight. The sheer power and number of spells flying out from Azkaban had forced Harry to go almost entirely on the defensive as he shield himself from harm.

In between the lethal blasts of energy he struck back as hard as he could, apparating through the external wards around the island he had shattered to aim siege bludgeoning curses at random sections of the wall. _Just gotta keep that power drain up. Though Bella better finish soon or this could get really messy: that castle is stronger than Tommy or Albus._

* * *

Bella watched Harry fight hungrily from a her perch on slab of rock a mile off the shore of Azkaban, longing to be the one he was doing battle with. _Damn Potter certainly hasn't lost his edge. _Bella thought with glee as she watched him collapse the ramparts of the north tower while rolling under a massive energy blast.

She purposely hesitated slightly longer than they had agreeded upon– the little bastard deserved to squirm a bit– before apparating inside of Azkaban. She had timed her departure to perfectly coincide with Harry's apparation, riding the wake of his ward-shattering efforts to sneak in underneath the castle's protections.

Inside Bella found herself back in the all too familiar cell block 174D. Rudolphus's cell block Her cell block. _No time to worry about that now. Need to bring down the damn castle's defenses. _Bella thought as she quickly cast a 'point me' to find the warden's office.

She scurried down the halls with none of the usual spring in her step. Azkaban. A place that gave even her nightmares. Already she could feel the edge of a chill begin to seep through her bones as the dementers sensed her presence and began to close in.

_Fight it Bella. Fight it. _She snarled to herself as the memories began to claw at her mind. _I'm sorry Bella...just received word..._

_No. Not that. Never again_. _Not that infernal cold_. Bella thought in horror as the dementers presence intensified all around her. She could not fight them with a Patronus, that kind of light magic had not been available to her since the beginning of her fourth year. No. She could not rely on the light to save her. It would have to be the darkness. The darkness that raged within her blood.

Bella bared her teeth in a snarl of silent defiance as she drew upon the bloodlust that lurked deep within the blood of pure Blacks. Anger surged through her, hate consumed her, as the ancient and malevolent battle rage roared inside her, it's demonic fire burning away the cold of the dementer's.

_Bella strode through the halls of the ministry killing all who stood in her path..._

Yes. This was it. This was how she had battled for her sanity all those long years locked behind bars. Trapped in an endless war of memories. Hate and anger against fear and despair.

_Her pathetic halfblood niece tried to bar her path to the auror's command center. Fool. Only Potter and Dumbledore should dare to fight her. A _Crucio, _A summoning charm and a wide arc acid curse had Tonks on the defensive. A bone shredder and a brain melting hex had her on the ground writhing in such delicious pain..._

Bella advanced forward into the teeth of the dementer's cold as she drew near the corridor that led to the warden's office. _I'm sorry Bella, We've just received word, Rudolphus is dead.._

No. Bella screamed at her self. Hold on to the anger and the hate. Savor the screams. Savor the vision of Tonks writhing at her feet. To give in to the other path was madness. No. Not madness, death: oblivion.

Bella staggered forward, head in her hands as the visions from both sources fought on inside her. Flashes of victory. Flashes of defeat. _Potter standing over Avery's broken form, taunting her at yet another loss..._

_Killing the auror's in this world, Potter at her side. Back to back, enemies all around them. Lunge, strike, the aurors falling as they attacked in perfect harmony..._

Bella seized on to that memory. Focusing on every aspect of it as she staggered forward to within feet of the warden's door. Only a few more steps now. _Potter at her back...killing...Potter at her back..._became her silent mantra as step by painful step she covered the final distance.

With a last desperate lunge she managed to grab the door of the warden's office and wrench it open. Falling across the threshold with a relieved sigh, Bella savored the calm of the room as its wards blocked out the dementer's auras. That calm was shattered a moment latter as a bolt of sickly green light exploded against the wall a foot from her head.

"Freeze! Throw your wand down on the ground and surrender or I will be forced to resort to lethal force!" An auror screamed at Bella with his wand aimed directly at her head

_Mmm, looks like the warden didn't take the bait down at the gates. This should be fun.. _Bella thought with a smirk as she wordlessly conjured a stick which resembled a wand and threw it on the ground at the warden's feet.

The warden didn't bother to bend down and pick up the stick as Bella had hoped. Instead, he simply nodded to himself and shot a wordless bludgeoning hex straight at her face. Bella rolled to the side expertly, dodging the curse which would have left her with a concussion and shattered jaw.

Bella swiftly regained her feet and lashed back at the warden, throwing a pair of _Crucio'_s in a rapid barrage. The curses fizzled a moment latter as a huge desk flew across the room and intercepted them. The desk continued on, hurtling after Bella as the warden tried to use the mahogany and steel furnishing as a battering ram.

Bella countered the idea rather rudely by incinerating it with a blast of molten lava whichcaused the twisted and burning fragments of the desk to explode across the room. Both combatants immediately threw up shields against the debris, but the warden was the barest moment slow and a fist-sized chunk of wood stabbed him through the right shoulder.

Biting back a scream the warden expertly switched his wand over to his left had as he tried to circle around Bella to protect his newly crippled right side. The two combatants warily circled each other, their footfalls the only sound in the eerily silent core of Azkaban.

"You know warden, I'd love to stay and play, but my associate outside is liable to get careless and get himself killed without my permission. Lions you know?" Bella said conversationally as she lunged forward with lightning speed, attacking with a wordless _Crucio._

The warden was a half-second slow in dodging and the curse clipped his injured shoulder. He went to the ground with a scream as the torture curse wrecked havoc on his already battered arm. Bella seized the moment immediately, closing the distance between them and stabbing the warden straight though the chest with Harry's knife.

The warden gurgled in horror as he stared down in horror at the knife sticking between his ribs. Bella stepped back unhurriedly to admire her work as she watched him vainly try to pull the dagger free without causing further damage.

"Aww, ickle warden, does it hurt? Bella can make it better." She giggled as she advanced on the warden's injured form. He drew back from her in horror, ignoring his pain as he desperately tried to crawl backwards through the solid stone wall. _Good to see that my other self managed to create at least some reputation here. _Bella thought with a smirk as she drank in the horror her named invoked.

"You know its too bad for you really that I was lying about my need to hurry. The damned Lion who's busy playing tag with your wards has more luck than the devil himself; there's no way he'll die even if I take my time." Bella said sweetly as she raised her wand and jabbed it down to inflict on _Crucio _on the trapped warden.

He screamed under the curse, thrashing back and forth as Bella pumped more and more power into it. Already she was approaching the level of her infamous curse that had driven both of the Longbottoms to madness. She cut the curse short a moment before it reached that critical threshold, grinning down at the moaning warden as she kicked him in the ribs viciously.

"Now, warden...Horace was it? Yes I think it was." Bella began conversationally as she kicked Horace over onto his back to face her. He glared up at her defiantly, his pale green eyes shining with pain and hatred. "I think I owe you just a bit for all the lovely years I spent in your care."

"You're...you're dead..." Horace managed to gasp in response a moment before Bella jabbed her wand forward in the slow burning entrails curse.

"I beg to differ." Bella drawled with amusement as she cast a full body bind on the warden and left him to his fate. The curse should run its course over the next ten hours or so; hardly a true payback for Azkaban, but then again Rookwood had already been quite creative in disposing of Horace back in her world...

Striding over the twitching form of Horace Bella walked up to the wall pannel which housed Azkaban's defenisve grid. A quick flick of her wand and the ward began to shut down one by one. First she destroyed the ward that held the dementer's bound to island.

As it winked out she quickly siezed control of the offensive wards around the castle and cast a massive portal in the deepest catacombs of the prision. She smile grimly as she watched the grid indicate dementers pouring through the portal in the hundreds. They may have been willing allies of the ministry, but with the wards down and a portal open to the heart of London they were hardly likely to linger in Azkaban.

Dementer's had been created to be the bane of dark wizards in a long forgotten power struggle between two necromancer lords, but ultimately they did not feed off of them to any greater extent than any other sentient being.

They drank in the dark terror generated by their powerful fear aura whose primordial roots rendered most mental defenses useless. This left the Patronus as the only reliable safe guard against the soul-suckers, and as such, the dementer's had tended to stick well to their original purpose of destroying dark wizards. After all, why attack a light wizard who may be able to cast the dreaded charm when they could happily feast upon all but the darkest of wizards with almost no effort?

Bella and Lord Voldemort had found a most elegant soultion to this problem with dementers in their research for the storming of Azkaban. Muggles. Useless pieces of filth that they were the dementers could still feed on them. What's more they weren't able to put up a struggle equal to even the weakest of the dark wizards.

The prospect of millions of defenseless subjects to terrify into oblivion London offered was simply too much for dementers to resist even sitting in the midst of a prison. Once all of the dementers had flowed through the portal Bella snapped the portal shut with another wand gesture. Stranding nearly five hundred dementers in London.

_It's really too bad I can't watch the muggle filth get what they deserve, but alas, the rest of the wards call. _Bella thought with a brief sigh as she gathered her energy and smashed the grid into a thousand pieces. The ancient wards all around the castle writhed violently as their control center exploded before winking out of existence with an all-mighty bang.

Right on the heels of the ward's collapse the whole castle rocked as a mammoth burst of energy slammed into it. Bella was thrown to the ground in a heap as even the core of the mighty fortress was shaken by the arch mage level blast.

_Fucking Lions. I better go stop Potter before he caves this place in on us. _Bella snarled to herself as she walked over to the prone form of Horace, "Sorry Horace, but I need my dagger back, I trust you wont miss it too much?" Bella drawled as she violently wrenched the knife free. Horace gasped in response as the knife's removal tore a gapping hole in his chest. Blood rushed forth, bringing him to the edge of grateful oblivion. The descent to nothingness was cut off for Horace as suddenly a hideous burning sensation exploded acrosss his wounded chest. Bella stood over him smirking, "Now, now, Horace; can't have you taking such an easy way out as bleeding to death. So, in my infinite mercy I decided that I'd cauterize your ickle wound." Bella giggled.

Horace could only stare up at her in wordless horror as the entrails curse continued its slow and agonizing work within him. Seeing that the warden was not going to respond Bella shook her head and mumbled, "No respect or gratitude for work well done among the auror corps these days." Before she cast a quick silencing charm on the warden to prevent anyone from figuring out something was wrong with the grid. This done Bella grabbed the still bloody knife and said, "Potter." To transport her outside.

She appeared outside a moment latter, twenty feet in the air. She plunged towards the icy waters around the island with a short shriek of surprise before finding herself jerked to a halt by an unseen force. Looking up as best she could while being cradled in mid air Bella found herself staring into the overly amused face of Harry, "Going for a swim Bella? We really have better things to do." He drawled even as he causally levitated her up to face him.

"Shove it Potter. If you had half the brains of even a filthy muggle you would have made that fucking portkey conditional by now!" Bella snarled.

"You didn't seem to mind last time." Harry shot back

"That's because there was the distinct possibility of me getting to rid the world of an overly inquisitive mudblood. It is quite a hobby of mine really. Women in particular provide ever so much amusement, what was her name again? Abby...no...no Abbot I think yes." Bella drawled back, reveling in watching the oath thwart Harry's attempt to simply drop her in the ocean. Old wounds were so delicious.

"Enough Bella." Harry finally managed to snarl as he regained control of his temper, "We have work to do."

"Aye Potter that we do. Slaughter and mayhem." Bella breathed reverently as Potter levitated them both over to the now unwarded shore of Azkaban.

"This is a _recuse mission _incase that has escaped your mind Bella." Harry snapped

"Nothing in its parameters that says we can't kill everything that moves." Bella drawled back as she twirled her wand idly.

"Bloodthirsty Snake. Do you ever think of anything besides murder?"

"Occasionally in moments of weakness I do like to reminisce about torturing Order members now that you mention it. Their screams are so musical, so deliciously desperate."

"No different from those of Death Eaters I assure you. I remember Nott in particular screamed like a little girl when I cut him in half." Harry drawled back in answer, smriking as he watched Bella fume impotently against the oath.

"One of these days Potter..."

"Three hundred and fifty five of them Bella. But enough of this. We have a rescue to execute." Harry snapped as he drew his wand and blasted a gapping hole in the walls that barred their path to the inner courtyard of the castle which housed the entrances to the high security cell blocks.

They both dashed through the hole, shields raised. Their precaution was rewarded a moment latter as a hail of curses slammed into them from the aurors who had fallen back to protect the critical locations in the castle after Bella brought down the wards.

Wordless the two of them split off, Harry moving left and Bella going right as they executed a pincer movement against the fifteen auror squad that held the walls. Bella dodged and ducked under increasingly violent spell fire as she crept closer to the walls. Once she had close to within five feet she struck back, hurling the same stone working spell she had used to such devastating effect in Fenrir's doomed base against the walls. The effect was instantaneous as the unwarded stone crumbled beneath the aurors, sending them all to the ground in a tangle of crushed and broken limbs.

Meanwhile, Harry, who had been watching her from his protected position on the other flank struck a moment latter while the confusion and noise from the collapse was still ringing in the auror's ears. Soundlessly he apparated behind one of the guards who was foolishly gawking at the rubble and slit his throat. Three more fell in rapid succession before they realized what was happening. By then it was too late as Harry hurled Bella's dagger into the commander's throat before activating the portkey embedded within to send the two men he fell onto directly into Bella's more than capable hands.

The last auror fell into a dueling stance as he tried to summon a brave facade to face the man who had just swept half of his squad from the walls with murderous ease. While he was still checking his stance Harry struck, taking his head off with a guillotine charm.

Bella appeared by his side a moment latter with a soft pop, "Thanks for the present Potter, you really know a way to a girls heart."

"I did think about sending flowers, but decided since they don't scream you might not fully appreciate their beauty." Harry drawled back in response as he accepted the dagger he had thrown back from Bella.

"True true, though it would have been better if these damned auror's could actually put up a fight."

"Makes our job easier." Harry said calmly as the two of them blasted the inner gates off their hinges and strode into the main subterranean prison complex.

"Oh come on Harry don't give me that shit! You can't hide behind that fucking lion facade forever. You like killing. You've felt its pull and you've embraced it."

"No Bella. I may be dark but I'm not mad. Not like you. I've seen the damned light in your eyes when you struck down your own flesh and blood and the ministry assault. Madness. You are mad Bella, I am not!"

"Such passion Harry. Such denial." Bella drawled as she led them through the twisted corridors to her husband's cell block. "I do have to ask where exactly in your high-minded Lion shit the ability to cast _Necran Demaritam_ fits in."

"I told you Bella I do what I must."

"Bullshit Harry. I told that simpering mudblood and I'll tell you even though you already know: you can't cast that curse without reveling in the pain. Without wanting that kind of unimaginable suffering with every fiber of your being!"

Harry snarled as he turned and tried to slam Bella into the wall. The oath halted him at the last second, leaving his hand straining a millimeter away from her face, "Don't get Hermione involved in this game Bella." He spat with all the hatred he could muster.

"Are you really so desperate to get laid Potter? Afraid that is she knows the truth she'll leave you? Maybe I should tell her more, do you a favor. She's not the mudblood you knew. Even I have to give _that_ whore credit for being a true monster. But this new one you've found? Ha. Pathetic."

"You. Will. Leave. Her. Out of this!" Harry roared, spit flying from his mouth onto Bella's face as he drew within millimeters of her to scream.

"Careful Potter, Or the oath will have to restrain you from trying to deafen me." Bella drawled happily at having hit a nerve. Things might have degenerated from there, oath or not, if the two maximum security detachments had not heard their screaming match and decided to attack.

Bella caught a glimpse of them as the two fifteen man squads stormed down the hall. Acting on instinct she dove forward, carrying Harry to the groung with her as a hail of quasi-legal curse exploded over head.

Harry nodded to her briefly as they lay on the ground beneath the hail of spell fire, "Thank's Bella, althoughI would have shielded it. Still, Rudolphus might be interested to know the lengths you seem to have gone to of late to end up on top of me."

"Shove it Potter." Bella snarled as she rolled off of him and returned fire at the aurors. Harry hesitated for the barest moment, not wanting to catch the wide arc lava curse Bella liked to use when performing a roll left, before following suit.

The wide arc lava curse sent the aurors diving to the floor for cover. Before they could regain their feet Harry had already struck, transmuting the ground into a field of barbed-wire. The auras on the ground screamed as they found themselves pinned to the ground by rusty spikes of metal.

Even as Harry was casting the barbed-wire carpet charm (as it was affectionately known in certain dueling circles) Bella was moving to finish the job as she released an obscure charm designed initially in world war one by a wizard sick of trying to assault wire protected trenches. It detonated the wire in a series of gruesome explosions that destroyed the aurors who were pinned to the ground.

Stunned at the loss of nearly a third of their numbers the commander of the aurors nonetheless was able to prove his worth as, a moment latter he took advantage of the smoke and confusion from the explosions to spread his command out and envelope the two attackers.

"This is your only chance! Drop your wands and surrender! You are outnumbered and surrounded." He bellowed into the smoke shrouded corridor. His only answer came in the form of a pair of _Crucio _curses that he barely managed to roll underneath,

"Open Fire!" The auror captain screamed as he regained his feet. Meanwhile, inside the ring of aurors Harry and Bella once again found themselves back to back and fighting for their lives.

"How's the weather over their Harry?" Bella drawled with amusement as she threw up a golden shield to stop a barrage of lung-burning and slashing curses.

"Not too bad Bella. Seems to be _Diffendo _with scattered impaling hexs." Harry drawled right back before going on the offensive with a furious lunge to the right coupled with a beam of pure force exploding out from his wand. The Hammer of the Naga, as the ancient blasting curse was known, caught a pair of aurors in its beam and liquefied them with a satisfying 'squelch.'

Bella was also moving as she felt Harry push of slightly against her left shoulder. Impalement hexes pissed Potter off, so he was probably going to do something nasty, dark inhuman magic. Bella thought as she took over the defense for both of them as the inhuman curses were too draining to allow their users to shield at the same time.

Bella counted to three after she heard the sickening squelch that only a Naga blasting curse could produce before she dropped the shield and left Potter to fend for himself with the silver shield he liked to go toin order to stop a physical counterattack.

As Harry felt Bella's shield fall from around him he threw himself backwards, getting out of the way of what he knew would be wide area spell. Bella got impatient while holding shields over allies and always liked to announce her return to the fight with a 'bang.' Harry's instincts were proved correct a moment latter as four more aurors fell to a dark conflagration hex.

The remaining aurors fell back from the furious assault as they tried desperately to regroup. They were given no quarter as Harry and Bella moved in eerie harmony to attack the ones who stood in front of Bella. Dark magic and Necromancy mixed with ancient Sado-Magic as the seven aurors in front of them simply disappeared beneath the hail of death magic.

The remaining seven aurors used the time it took for the rest of their companions to fall beneath Harry and Bella's onslaught to apparate away from the impossible fight.

"Do you think we killed the commander?" Harry asked absently as he surveyed the carnage around them.

"Probably not, that encircling manuever was actually pretty clever. I'll assume that he was one of the people who had the brains to flee until proven otherwise." Bella answered back as she grabbed Harry's hand and dragged him away from the contemplation of the carnage. She enjoyed surveying the results of her work as much as the next sadistic death eater, but Rudolphus was less than a cell block away.

"Easy there Bella, I don't think Rudolphus is going to up and walk away without you." Harry drawled as he let Bella pull him down the hall.

"Some of us haven't had a mudblood whore around to satisfy our baser desires." Bella snapped back at him in annoyance as they entered the maximum security cell block. Harry and Bella quickly made their way over the registry by the door and surveyed it.

"Hmm, this is like a bad memory trip, Dohlov, Jugson, Greyback..."

"That's just because you have terrible taste in who to make friends and enemies with Potter." Bella drawled as she scanned the registry intently for her husband. She found him a moment latter and dashed off down the hall towards his cell.

Harry was about to call after her when his eye caught the last entry on the page. Sirius Black. Sirius was here. Sirius was alive. He had known that, but somehow seeing it in cold black ink on the page made it real. Not wasting a second Harry dashed off in the same direction as Bella, heading for cell 14 and his godfather.

* * *

While Harry and Bella were freeing the prisoners in the maximum security block the aurors had reached the ministry and were frantically babbling to Amelia and Kingsely. Unable to understand anything in their incoherent rambling, but having a bitter suspicion just what was going on Amelia sighed and turned to Kingsley. She was going to have to let him 'discover' what was certainly another attack on Azkaban. She hated to bring the Order in on this little debacle, but the body count was simply growing too high for her to maintain her position in the aurors

No. She would let the Order bleed on this one, even if it meant the added hassle of finding a way to take credit for the final victory. "Kingsley, I want you to take a rapid response team to Azkaban and find out why in the name of might Merlin himself one of the most elite squads we have guarding that hell hole is in her babbling incoherently.

Kingsley nodded and quickly pressed a rune on his wrist band to tell his rapid response team to prep for departure. Ten minutes latter the four man team was assembled behind Kingsley awaiting their orders.

"Listen up team we are going into an unknown situation, location Azkaban: so be prepared for anything. Only intel we have is that the maximum security defense squad appeared at half strength in Amelia's office babbling like a bunch of scared first years. Prepare to portkey on my mark, we go in hot and attack anything that moves!" Kingsley bellowed as he activated the teams portkey.

They materialized a moment latter in the warden's office. Instantly the five of them spread out to cover the whole room, wands pointing in every direction. Only once it was clear that there was no enemy standing in the room did Kingsley take a moment to survey the battered office. Clearly a battle had raged inside of it as the shattered remains of a desk were strew throughout the room and walls and door were lined with scorch marks.

As his gaze continued to sweep the room for potential threats Kingsley suddenly gasped as his eyes alighted on the battered figure of the warden himself writhing in silent agony against one of the far walls.

Quickly Kingsley cast _Finite Incantatem_ to remove the silencing charm. As the charm lifted he was greeted by an unearthly howl of pain from the warden. Covering his ears, Kingsley urgently motioned for the teams medic to assess Horace. She broke from her position and knelt down next to the fallen warden while her wand moved in a series of complex diagnostic charms. She frowned when one of them began to glow a dull, angry red. Muttering under her breath about the state of the wizarding world to be employing such curses the medic waved her wand in a complex knot-shaped motion that caused a pale blue light to spring up around Horace.

Immediately Horace's screams stopped and trailed off to relieved whimpers as she sank gratefully down against the walls. "What was wrong with him?" Kingsley asked intently.

"Entrails burning curse. One of the really nasty slow acting ones from the 1600's. I was able to dispel the effect, but he's been pretty badly hurt internally already. He is going to need at least a week in intensive care to fix the damage."

"Fine, fine. Is he able to talk to us?"

"Aye." Horace muttered weakly, "I can talk."

"What happened?" Kingsley demanded, ignoring the reprimanding looks the rest of his squad shot him for taking that tone with an injured man.

"Death and madness Kingsley. Never seen anything like it. First the same crazy bastard who attacked Azkaban eariler in the week comes back for a second go..."

"Wait...someone attacked Azkaban earlier in the week? Why wasn't I told!"

"Don't know King' probably suspected treachery or something, need-to-know and all that shit." Horace said quickly, covering for Amelia's obvious _Oblivate_ with a quick lie.

"I'll have to look into that, but carry on." Kingsley muttered darkly, his mind already whirling with possible scenario's ranging from Amelia going dark to her simply knowing he was compromised to the Order.

"Alright. In any case as I was saying that crazy blighter comes back for round two and I decide to give him hell, engage the offensive wards and all that shit. Somehow in the chaos of the ensuing battle someone snuck into the castle, fought their way past the dementers and broke into this office to destroy the grid."

"Shit." Kingsley muttered with a sinking feeling. It sounded too much like the kind of brutal skill shown by the mysterious pair. "Where you able to get an ID on the attacker by any chance?"

"Oh Aye I was." Horace said with a bitter laugh, "But, you aren't going to believe me."

"Try me."

"The one who took me out was Bellatrix Black. I'd know that bitch anywhere."

"But...Black? She's, she's dead!"

"Aye, that she is. But then again, so was her partner. When she left this place she was calling for Potter."

A/N: should I keep this story T? PM your feelings or let me know in a review or whatever if you having feelings one way or the other (don't expect some kind of public poll, but I will take things people have to say under consideration). I want to keep it accessible to as many people as possible and don't really feel that I have anything graphically mature. However, some of the undescribed but mentioned acts are pretty brutal so I'm just trying to make sure I don't run afoul of ff net here. thanks guys.


	12. Fight and Flight

A/N: 1. Don't own anything. Just playing :)

2.Longest chapter yet once again cool how that works isn't it? Finally hit the big 40k+ mark

3. As I'm sure you have all noticed the rating has changed to M. had some great feed back from both DLP and reviewers on this subject. Thanks guys.

4. Keep reading and **reviewing**. you guys rock :)

5. Finally let me assure everyone that the H/Bella is coming soon. not in this chapter but right now its planned for either the next or the one after...

Chapter 12

Fight and Flight

Kingsley stood in front of the warden's fireplace with the rest of his squad outside guarding the door, nominally placing a call to the ministry to appraise them of the situation. The flames within the fireplace burned an eerie green as he hastily fed it floo powder before whispering, "Hogwarts Headmaster's office."

A moment latter the head of Albus appeared amidst the flames, "Kingsley? What in the name of Merlin is going on? Why are you calling me from Azkaban?"

"Azkaban's been penetrated Dumbledore. The grid was destroyed and as near as we can tell most of the aurors killed." Kingsley growled.

"What!" Albus shouted, his features displaying a level of shock rarely seen on the ancient wizard."

"Oh, it gets worse Albus. According to the warden we have two dead men to thank for this debacle: Potter and Bellatrix Black. Personally I think he's delusional and we are just dealing with those two I ran afoul of last week. Though, why they would pose as that particular pair is beyond me."

Albus sighed as he listened to Kingsley, "Can the ministry handle this Kingsley?"

"Not a chance Albus. I have a five man kill team here and I can probably call in a few more, but if these are those two I told you about I'd be committing suicide by leading an attack against them. I'm afraid that we are going to need Order support on this one."

"Very well my boy. Keep safe. I'll rally the Order as quickly as I can." Albus said gravely. Kingsley nodded his understanding before ending the floo call with a quick flick of his wand.

* * *

Albus waited until Kingsley disappeared from the floo before he allowed his grand- fatherly visage to degrade into a snarl. _Merlin blighted Potter. From this world or the next he never ceases to cause my trouble._

"Still sure of your approach to the Potter brat now?" A sibilant voice drawled from behind, interrupting Albus's thoughts.

"Yes Severus I'm sure. The boy can be brought to heel. The boy must be brought to heel! We must be patient is all. Have you forgotten that we need something to break the deadlock with Amelia? Everyday we loose ground to that damned witch and the DMLE slips further into her absolute control."

"And you think Potter, a dark arch mage allied with the Queen of Pain, is going to help us out of the kindness of his heart once he hears tell of the rampant corruption? No Albus, the boy is a rouge force who would as soon destroy us as Amelia!"

"I have taken steps Severus..." Albus began placatingly

"Steps! Bloody fucking hell Albus spare me from the refuse you feed to the Order. By the look of things the boy is running around completely out of control, consorting with not a single person who we can even loosely claim to be on our side! Is your idea of steps allowing him to come into contact with Hermione? She knows I killed him! She bloody well knows and you didn't even try to interfere?

And now this! Now he runs off to Azkaban. Seems an odd coincidence that he does so only days after the damned Mutt is seized! I am telling you Albus the boy is against us and needs to be dealt with now."

Albus sighed deeply as he determinedly fixed his most grand fatherly face on before turning to face Snape, "My boy you must have faith in me." He said patiently, infusing the tiniest edge of compulsion, " I assure you I value your safety far beyond this new Potter."

Snape simply snarled in response before turning and storming from the room with a dramatic flair of his robes. Albus counted to a long three after the potions master left before he allowed his face to relax. Snape had certainly felt the compulsion, it should easily convince the paranoid death eater that Albus had no qualms about Potter killing him.

Once he reached that conclusion Snape was sure to reach for that little black skull he thought hidden from Albus. A veritaserium proof assassination order. After all, he certainly had told Severus quite the opposite if it ever came to question.

* * *

Severus stormed through the corridors of the dungeon with a fierce scowl fixed on his face. _Damned manipulative old coot. Who the hell does he think he is? _Snape thought furiously as he wrenched open the door to his personal chambers. 

Slamming the door behind him he strode across the room with long, flashing strides until he came to his desk. Without a moment of hesitation his fingers danced over its surface in a complex dance to unlock a hidden compartment. The secret drawer shot out a moment latter, revealing the leering ebony skull medallion.

Snape picked it up almost reverently and slipped it over his head. Gently his hand stroked the skull just so, until a red light filled its empty eye sockets.

"Assassin Master Snape, what do you require?" A cold voice rang out from the skull, echoing hollowly about the stone chamber.

"Dimitri and his men. Tell them the target has surfaced at Azkaban. Code is Alpha green. Kill anything that moves."

* * *

Harry ran headlong down the cell block, pausing only long enough to check the cell numbers as he sped by. 22...21...20...too many of the damned things. He wanted to just apparate straight to cell 14, but the ancient magics that swirled through the earth in the lower reaches of Azkaban made such a plan suicidally dangerous. The sudden spikes and swirls they set off in the latent magic of the area made it far too easy to fatally splice oneself. 

_Probably why they put the maximum security wards down here. _Harry reflected grimly at yet another surprising show of ministry competence. _Oh well, not like it matters in the end. Those pathetic aurors couldn't stop us if we decided to somersault all the way out the front gates._

16...15...14...13...Harry skidded to a halt as his momentum carried him halfway past the cell that held his godfather. Gathering himself he slowly turned around and walked to stand in front of Sirius's cell. His godfather sat there, his back to the wall, eyes frantically roaming the corridor. They stop in panic the moment they landed on Harry.

"What the blood hell is this? Some sick death eater joke?" Sirius snarled in fury as he stood to glare at Harry.

"Good to see you too Sirius." Harry said quietly as his wand twisted in a complex arc to bring down the first layer of wards around his godfather's cell. Sirius watched in mute fascination as the _thing _that somehow looked liked an older, darker, verison of his precious godson tore through the most sophisticated wards outside of Hogwarts with almost contemptuous ease.

"Who are you? Who sent you?" Sirius tried again as Harry continued to tear through the wards around his cell with frightening speed.

"I'm your bloody fucking godson Sirius and I sent myself." Harry said with a touch of amusement at the look on the convict's face. Sirius simply stared blankly at him, taking in the features that surely belonged to Harry, wanting so desperately to believe...

_No. Damnit Sirius you know this has to be a trick! You held Harry's soulless body yourself after that bastard of a dark lord destroyed them both. This has to be some trick. Some sick last prank from the ministry perhaps. Well I'll show them what they get when they try to prank a prankster _Sirius though grimly as he prepared himself to rush the door as soon as the wards fell.

"There's no need for that Sirius. I'm here to recuse you and that wouldn't be particularly aided by having to stun you." Harry said calmly as he removed the final ward from the cell door causing Sirius to stare at him in mute astonishment and no small amount of fear

"How...you..." He stuttered as he backed further into the cell to put distance between himself and Harry.

"You're broadcasting, it wasn't terribly hard." Harry said as he blasted the door of its hinges with a quick flick of his wand. Sirius crouched back in on himself as the door hit the far wall with an almighty clang even as Harry strode calmly into the cell.

Looking up at the thin, scarred and battle-worn figure in front of him it seemed impossible that this could be his godson. The poor, almost-innocent creature who had not been able to experience life beyond his fourth year.

"Stay...stay back!" Sirius snarled , drawing himself up to his full ragged height despite his fear.

"Really Sirius. I break you out of Azkaban and this is the reception I get? Still, I suppose its more pleasant than Hermione's was. _Crucio _just never feels good you know?" Harry said conversationally, "Now, like it or not you are coming with me. I'll swear an oath to you to prove my identity after we get out of here alright?"

Sirius hesitated for a long moment before finally nodding his acceptance. Even if this doppleganger was just leading him into a trap it still would be better than Azkaban, "Fine, lets get out of here, but I want that oath first."

"Granted Sirius." Harry said before taking out Bella's dagger and drawing a swift cut across his left hand, "I Harry James Potter do swear upon blood and magic to prove my identity to Sirius Orion Black as soon as the both of us have safely escaped from Azkaban." He intoned solemnly before closing the wound with a quick wandless charm.

Sirius relaxed as the oath took effect. That was far too powerful of an oath to swear for some damn trick. Especially when the man before him looked like he could tear him to pieces without breaking a sweat.

"Alright then. Lets blow this place." Sirius said with some of his usual cheer back as he followed Harry out of the cell _It has to be Harry. Please god let it be Harry. _Just as the two of them stepped beyond the bars of the door a shrill alarm began to scream through the corridor.

"Damn. Looks like the other half of those aurors got word to outside sooner than I thought. Looks like we may have to fight our way out" Harry said with what Sirius felt was entirely too much composure for the situation.

"Fight our way out against Impossible odds? Maybe you are James's son after all." Sirius mused out loud as a slow smile began to spread across his face _If I'm going down at least it'll be in a blaze of glory next to someone just as damned crazy. _He thought cheerfully before turning to Harry, "Don't suppose I could trouble you for a wand so I can get in on the action?"

"Just pick one up off the floor of the main underground chamber." Harry replied, "Their old owners won't object." Sirius was about to ask just what he meant when they burst through the shattered doors of his cellblock and a scene of utter carnage appeared before him.

Mutilated bodies and blood carpeted the room as more than a full squad of aurors lay dead all about them. Sirius stared around in horror for a long moment before finally tearing his gaze away and facing Harry, "What in Merlin's name happened here?"

"They tried to stop us." Harry said simply as he bent over the corpse of a young brown-haired auror and threw his wand up to Sirius.

"Oh." Sirius said, still trying to mentally connect the devastation that stood before his eyes with Harry's almost flippant statement, "Wait a second, us?" He finally asked.

"Yes my dear cousin." A voice drawled from behind them, causing Sirius to spin around, wand bared, hoping against hope that he was not hearing _that _voice again, "Did you really think that Harry could have stormed Azkaban all by himself? Too much of a lion by half." The voice continued on cheerfully.

"I didn't see you volunteering to take the place on by yourself either Bella. Harry drawled right back while absently grabbing Sirius's wand arm to prevent him from doing something foolish.

"Easy Sirius. Don't do anything stupid. She's oath sworn to not attack you unless you strike first." Harry whispered before releasing his godfather's arm slowly. Sirius only stared at him in horror in response, "What. The. Fuck. Is she doing here?" He managed to growl out after a moment of chocked silence.

"Bella and I had a mutual interest in making withdrawals from Azkaban." Harry answered evasively before turning to Bella, "Speaking of which where's old Rudolphus? Finally get a good look and decide he wasn't worth it after all?"

"He'll be out in a moment; he's busy freeing the rest." Bella snapped back coldly.

As though summoned by her words the battered form of Rudolphus Lestrange emerged from the cell block with four equally ragged figures in tow. Harry scowled as he regarded the emerging party. Dohlov, Jugson, Greyback and, of course, Rabastin Lestrange. Three of them were the death eater elite: hardened killers who had bled the Order dry before their final deaths in his old world. Dohlov had been Voldemort's strong left hand, the scalpel to Bellatrix's hammer. A master dueler and a deadly assassin he had killed more of the Order's inner circle than even Voldemort himself.

Greyback on the other hand gave a new meaning to the word savagery and, even in his final fight, outnumbered and ambushed, he had still kill nearly ten aurors and order members with his bare hands before finally being captured.

Finally there was Rabastin. Quiet, brooding Rabastin who had unleashed demons and plague through the streets of Prague as he single-handedly persuaded the ministries of the continent that they did not want to become involved in Britain's nasty little war.

_On the plus side if it comes to a fight those aurors are going to be in for a world of pain. _Harry thought as he slowly repressed the urge to blast each of the men before him into oblivion. Instead of unleashing the hell he longed for he turned to Bella, "We'd best get out of here before the aurors come back for round two Bella. I'd rather not kill more of them than I have to now that we have what we came for."

"You do take all the fun out of life Harry." Bella drawled even as she nodded her assent. Turning to face Rudolphus her hands flashed rapidly in a series of harsh gestures. _Death eater battle talk. _Harry noted absently, his mind automatically translating the intricate hand signals Hermione had deciphered so long ago, _Grab wands. Potter, _it was a rather back handed compliment that they had a unique gesture just for him Harry thought with amusement, _and I will take point. Rabastin right flank Dohlov left. You, Greyback andJugson reserves._

Rudolphus nodded his assent before signing back, _1st name signal. Non-comprehension. _Harry laughed out loud at this, causing Bella to shoot him a death glare; of course Rudolphus wouldn't understand the signal for Potter. This world's Potter had never been given a chance to make himself enough of a pain to warrant his own signal.

Sirius looked at the exchange between Harry and Bella with growing worry: bad enough that his sadistic and supposedly dead cousin was somehow along for the ride without Harry being so clearly comfortable around her. Besides what had he been laughing at? No one had said anything beyond a bunch of death eater hand talk..._Shit. He understands it. Is he a death easter? Sirius old boy what have you gotten yourself into? _He thought with a grimace as he tightened his grip on the stolen wand.

Any further musings Sirius may have had were interrupted as Harry and the death eaters seamlessly moved into standard battle formation. Seeing the formation brought back long buried memories of his brief auror days and Sirius found himself unconsciously falling into the last open position in the reserves. His pride stung a bit at being shoved to the back, but having grown up with most of the men around him he had to acknowledge that they had all earned their right to a front rank position.

Slowly the eight of them moved across the chamber, waiting for the inevitable aurors that would arrive to answer the alarms shrill call. They came when they were less than one hundred feet from inner courtyard. Spell fire poured through the open door of the high security complex as three auror kill teams opened up with all they had.

Sudden as the auror assault was, Harry and Bella were ready. Moving in eerie tandem twin golden shields rose from their wands to cover the small ground from fire. A moment after the auror barrage impacted with the shields Dohlov and Rabastin returned fire, sending fiery bolts of green death out to greet the aurors.

"Fall back!" Harry yelled as his shield buckled under the impact from a vicious storm of blasting curses. _We'll draw them in and pincer _he signed to Bella who nodded her understanding and rapidly passed on the order to Rabastin who stood beside her.

The front of their formation split cleanly in two with the back following more disjointedly as Jugson and Fenrir followed Bella to the right while the others raced after Harry and Dohlov to the left.

The maneuver was completed a moment latter as a complex illusion charm sprang from Dohlov's wand to give the aurors the impression that the small group was slowly falling back into the room. The kill teams pressed their apparent advantage brutally, sending blasting and rending curses in endless streams while advancing rapidly in an attempt to drive the escapee's back into the cellblock.

Dohlov masterfully maintained the illusion as the false group shielded and dodged at just the right moment to avoid the hail of curses that besieged them. Sweat quickly formed on the death eater's face as the strain of so many years of captivity began to take their toll. Fortunately the need for the illusion gave out before he did as the first kill team breached the inner prison complex walls.

The five man elite kill squad had a moment to look shocked as the illusion vanished before they were engulfed by a wave of dark curses from either side. Two of them went up like candles as black fire from Harry's wand immolated them in the blink of an eye. Another fell cut cleanly in half by a wicked looking conjured blade from Rabastin. The final two lasted a moment longer as their shield just barely held back the lavaburst Bella hurled at them. Their shield and lives ran out a moment latter though as Harry calmly dropped a boiling vat of acid on top of them before their shields could renew.

"Enlarge the front before they pin us in here!" Bella screamed over to Harry as she pointed her wand at the wall beside the broken courtyard door. Harry nodded his understand and a moment latter siege bludgeoning curses sprang from their wands to impact against the walls. The ancient stonework exploded outward with incredible force as the curses took a murderous toll upon the now unwarded surface.

Huge, man-sized chunks of stone exploded out into the courtyard, showering the remaining two kill teams in a lethal hail of rock fragments. Before the aurors had a chance to recover Bella and Harry were already leading a charge, mercilessly punishing the flanks of the two kill teams.

Two aurors fell in a matter of seconds as Bella unleashed an ancient sado-rune which turned on every pain receptors in their bodies at once. Even as those two aurors fell screaming to the ground, their minds burned away by the endless pain, two more died on the other flank when Harry called down green lightning bolts from the clear sky with a sinister hiss.

The remaining six aurors took their companions death as a sign that perhaps survival was the better part of valor and they began to fall back rapidly towards the cover offered by the wall Bella had collapsed on the far side of the courtyard.

Bella took the retreat of the aurors as an opportunity to cast a quick message spell, sending a bolt of silver light form her wand directly at Harry's head, _apparate away while we can Potter?_

_Probably for the best Bella. Where to? _Harry sent back.

_Malfoy Mannor the wards should prevent an immediate trace. I'm all for continuing this little brawl, but Rudolphus and Co. are not in shape for an extended firefight. _Bella sent back, somehow managing to infuse the barest tinge of regret into the messenger spell.

_Damned bloodthirsty snakes. _Harry thought with amusement as he sent an affirmative reply back to Bella. He would love to see the look on Lucius's face when he appeared on the aristocrat's front lawn. Maybe Malfoy would even do something stupid like attack him..

Harry's happy musings were shattered a moment latter as an all too familiar sensation of impossible weight blasted his magical senses. _Shit anti-apparation wards! _He sent to Bella frantically.

_Can you tear through them and have us follow along in the back draft? _Bella sent back quickly.

_No. Those were arch mage grade._

_Hmm, sounds like the old man has come out to play then._

_Better consolidate our forces or he is going to be able to isolate us and destroy us in detail with that damned transfiguration of his. _Harry sent, remembering all too well his many defeats at the hands of the old arch mage during training sessions. Fighting a master of transfiguration was like nothing else in the world. Everything was a weapon, everything was a shield. While it may have been true that Voldemort, Harry and Bella used far deadlier curses, none of them would cross Albus in a fair duel without great trepidation.

Bella didn't bother to waste time responding to Harry's message, as she instead quickly lead her half across the courtyard to link up Harry. Once the two forces had been rejoined Bella swiftly conjured a series of stone barriers while Harry enspelled them to resist transmutation. Barriers erected they settled down to await the inevitable.

* * *

Dimitri apparated into Azkaban with a slight feeling of unease. It wasn't that he thought assassin master Snape was trying to set them up; no one could possible be that stupid, but somehow the idea of voluntarily walking into the prison just set him on edge. 

His fears were not eased when he felt incredibly powerful anti-apparation wards settle across the whole of the complex. Still, a mission was a mission and since his defection from the KGB he had never yet failed.

"Alpha attack formation men. Remember, primary is this Potter fellow, but secondary is kill everything that moves, so don't spare the firepower." Dimitri said to his squad as they cautiously stalked around the building looking for an entrance. They found one a moment latter in the form of a two-story hole blown in the outer wall. Scrambling through it they found themselves just in time to witness all hell break loose.

* * *

The Order had arrived and they were playing for keeps. Harry thought as he desperately renewed the shield around the little group that had been slowly driven back to just in front of the entrance of the high security cell complex. 

It wasn't that an of the individual members present were terribly dangerous, though Moody was certainly making his presence known; no, it was the fact that Dumbledore's power pervaded the entire battlefield, blocking every attack the escapees could throw.

Underneath the old headmaster's protection the kill teams and order members slowly advanced, pushing Harry and Bella back towards the doors they had just won their way out of. "We've got to neutralize Albus!" Harry yelled to Bella as their latest barrage of lung bursting curses harmlessly slew a horde of conjured birds.

"No shit Potter. Any bright ideas?" Bella shot back with annoyance

"You're the snake, think of something devious!" Harry yelled over the roar of superheated air that exploded above them from a kill team nova hex.

"Devious isn't going to work against the headmaster Potter, damned crazy old bugger is too smart by half. If we are going to take him out of this battle its going to have to be brute force." Bella said with a pointed look at Harry.

"Why Bella you're beginning to sound like such a delighful lion, now if we could just get you to wear red and gold..." Harry mocked even as he picked off one of the Order members who had drawn too close with a quick bludgeoning hex to the skull.

"The only red I'm interested in wearing is your blood Harry." Bella snarled as she grabbed Rabastin and pulled him to the side just in time to avoid a hail of conjured spears shooting into the ground with lethal force, "Well, I might also accept crimson from a certain mudblood..." She added as she regained her feet with a devious grin.

Harry didn't bother to respond as he instead flicked her off while his mind frantically ran through the few arch mage grade battle spells he could use to capture Dumbledore's attention. _Hammer of Justice? No, too many unforgivables for that to work anymore. What about the Coil of Souis? Hmm, promising, but the last time Tommy boy used that against Albus he nearly got turned into a squib, so maybe not._ Exes Imo_. Mmm, yes, I think It'll have to be that. I just hope that this world's Albus has never felt the need to research the counter.._

Mind made up Harry quickly spun away from the battle line and grabbed Jugson and pulled him up to the front lines, "Cover for me Jugson." He barked quickly as he stepped into the death eater's place in the rear ranks beside his godfather.

Bella shot him a questioning glance as he retreated from the field and was about to make a snide comment when Harry silenced her protest with a quick signal, _Remember the third battle of London. _He sent frantically as he shut his eyes and prepared to invoke the _Exes Imo _

The sounds of the battle faded from around him as he slowly gathered all the energy from his vast core and began to spin it about him. Faster and faster, greater and greater, the power whirled about him until he blazed with a radiance to match the sun. Still he drew on more, he drew the sweet fire of his magic until it hurt, until it threatened to burst forth in a final inferno from every pore of his body.

Only then did he stop and begin to chant the ancient words of the elemental spell. _Firese Heava Exes Imo! _He roared aloud as all the power he had gathered snapped taut about him with the final word of the spell. Now it truly did burn. Magic power transmuted to raging sun-fire. It would consume him if he let it; devour him and leave not even ashes behind.

His every instinct screamed at him to fight the tide, to cast charms to protect his fragile human frame against the inferno he had summoned. To give into those instincts was death.

Instead he turned to the voice in the back of his mind, Hermione, his Hermione coaching him through the ancient Atlantan spell, _Harry you cannot control this fire. You cannot wield it. It is too wild, too free. The path is simply to become the flame. _She whispered to him even now from beyond the grave.

He opened himself fully to the flame, let it play across his body, let it fill his mind and soul. Only then, only when there was no Harry did he turn the fire outward. It raced out from his outstretched hands with an almost sentient urge to consume, to _burn._

The brilliant white fires reached out for the Order and the kill teams with a violent roar as superheated air exploded all about them. A moment before the fire could consume them it was met by a massive blast of arctic wind, howling in fury at its opposite.

Back and forth the wind and the fire fought, avatars of the two arch mages. There was no room for finesse, for strategy or for tactics. Only power mattered here. They were evenly matched, arch mage against arch mage.

If Harry could have opened his eyes he would have seen Bella gaze at him hungrily even as she finished conjuring a shield to protect their group from his incredible heat. He would have seen Sirius stare and wonder and Rudolphus in hate. But he could not, he had no eyes. He was the fire that fought with its ancient Boreal foe.

It was into the scene that Dimtri and his men stumbled. For a long moment they simply stared in wonder at the two arch mages before Dimitri held up his hand for order, "Listen up comrades and listen well. We strike hard and we strike fast before either one of those two has a chance to turn against us. The pay for this job ain't good enough to fight a pair of arch mages if we can help it. I want pincer form, one with me against that small group there and then two others with Boris against those aurors. Got it? Good." He rattled off quickly, nodding his approval as his men wordlessly split to follow his commands.

Slowly he crept to within fifty feet of the distracted escapees before he silently conjured himself a large granite rock to hide behind. Once he was satisfied that it would resist anyone else's transfigurations he set to work..

Concentrating furiously he called upon the inborn talent that had made him one of the deadliest assassins in the guild. He was a born conjuror, capable of constructing complex objects from scratch. Most wizards with the talent squandered it shamefully in duels, doing nothing more creative than conjuring swords to fall from above their enemy's heads. He had learned far more deadly things than swords in his time with the KGB.

Jugson was busy fighting against three members of the kill teams who had managed to edge their way around the arch mage battle and continue to attack the escapees when he heard a curious metallic 'thunk.' Looking down he had less than a moment to notice the small green ball at his feet before it exploded and tore him to pieces.

All across the death eater lines grenades detonated, spraying shrapnel into the small group with ruinous results. No one else was as unlucky as Jugson to be killed outright, but Rabastin went down hard with a blazing hot shard of metal driven clean through his right leg. On the other flank Dohlov fell unconscious as the concessive blast slammed his battered frame into the wall behind him.

Bella was the only one to emerge from the mess unscathed, as the detonation which claimed Jugson had given her just enough warning to raise a projectile shield. Her shield protected Rudolphus and Sirius from the worst of the blast, although both of them were still bleeding from numerous small wounds.

Greyback lacked the benefit of Bella's shield, but his own werewolf defenses protected him from thefull furyof the grenade's attack. Snarling in rage the werewolf broke from behind the lines and raced towards the new attackers he sensed

Bella watched the werewolf go before flashing a quick hand signal to Rudolphus, _Go with him. I'll protect arch mage. _Rudolphus scowled at her for a moment before nodding his understanding and running off to join the werewolf. Once her husband had gone Bella turned to her least favorite cousin and snarled, "Make yourself useful Mutt and help me keep those kill teams off our backs. If they get to Harry before he exhausts Dumbledore we are all dead.

Sirius nodded grimly as his wand darting back and forth before Bella had even finished speaking. Silent organ liquefying hexs shot from his wand as he swept it across the ranks of the Order and aurors. One of them fell, screaming wetly before the others were forced to seek cover.

* * *

Dimitri cursed violently as his companion was torn to pieces by the raging werewolf in front of him. _Fucking subhumans. Should have killed um' all. _He thought as he conjured a silver filled grenade over Greyback's head. It exploded a moment latter, showering the whole area in enough molten silver to down a whole army of werewolves. But, Fenrir was inhumanly fast and managed to dodge the worst of it, coming on towards Dimitri with nothing worse than a singed pelt. 

Snarling Dimitri braced himself to meet the charge. Wolf and commando clashed as a silver javelin dueled frantically with barely human hands. Somewhere in the midst of the mad melee Dimitri found an opening and struck with all his might.

His javelin pierced Fenrir's chest even as the werewolf managed to seize his other arm and tear it bodily from his shoulder. Both of them fell back to the ground screaming in agony. Rudolphus looked on impassively for a moment before turning his back and slowly walking back to rejoin his wife, both of them would be dead soon enough without his help. Had he lingered he would have witnessed Dimitri conjure a burning brand and cauterize his gushing wound. He also might have seen the wiley Russian conjure a wicked blade to fit over the stump, but he was more concerned with just what his wife was up to with this mysterious Potter. They got along too well for things to be harmless.

* * *

Meanwhile even as Fenrirdied the rest of Dimitri's men fell upon the Order's rear. Their attempts to kill Albus failed as the raw energy that surrounded him simply absorbed the spells, but the rest of the Order was not so lucky. Amos Diggory was blown fifty feet into the air as the ground bellow him was transmuted into pure potassium. Meanwhile Hesita Jonesalso fell with a foot long molten steel stake driven through her chest. 

The remaining five order members around Dumbledore turned to face the new threat, peppering the assassins with stunning and blasting curses. The assassins easily me the assault as each man conjured a mystic silver shield to absorb the low level curses.

Just as the assassins lowered their shields to counterattack Mad-Eye joined the fray, hurling a shimmering bolt of emerald death straight into the chest of Boris. The commando crumpled to the ground soundlessly.

The other two assassins seemed unfazed by the death of their leader as they struck back hard, pinning the order members to the ground with a rapid barrage of dark bludgeoning hexs. The Order grimly counterattacked as, led by Moody, they returned fire in kind.

Slowly the superior numbers of the Order began to show as step by step they forced the assassins back until the two men were pinned up against the courtyard walls. Exchanging quick glances the two men simultaneously turned to the wall and tapped it twice with their wands.

As the Order looked on in confusion the two men then threw up one last shield before running straight at the portion of the wall they had tapped and disappearing within. Moody stared at the now empty wall with a deep scowl on his face as his magical eye studied the spell for a long moment before he turned to the rest of the Order and asked in a hard, cold voice, "Who invited the fucking magical KGB to the party?"

No answer greeted him.

* * *

Harry rode the surges of the flames. Slowly he was pushing the wind back. Slowly, too slowly his conscious mind added, he was wining. Dumbledore was stretched too thin fighting this battle and maintaining the wards. Soon he would have to let one of them go. The breaking point came a moment latter as Harry staggered under the renewed force of his enemies assault. 

_The wards are down. _The small part of him that wasn't the fire thought.

* * *

Bella felt the wards fall at the same moment as Harry. Quickly she fell back from the front line after throwing a quick golden shield around Harry. Grabbing the Dohlov and Rabastin she motioned frantically to her husband that the coast was clear to apparate. Rudolphus nodded his understanding and vanished a moment latter with a harsh pop. 

Still holding tight to the two fallen death eaters Bella turned to face her Harry. He was lost in the battle that raged overhead. Lost to the flames. Someone else was going to have to apparate him out of here. She just hoped he realized he had left the battlefield before he burned Lucius's manor to the ground. _Though, on second thought_...

Wrenching her mind away from the admittedly amusing contemplation of the look on Lucius face she made a snap decision and threw Dohlov at Sirius, "Apparate him to Malfoy manor with you! I'll grab Harry and Rabastin." She yelled over the din of the two surviving aurors' blasting curses.

Sirius nodded his understanding as he grabbed the prone Dohlov and disappeared from the prison. Bella hesitate for one last moment as she stared in wonder at Harry. So much power. So much fire, so much destruction at his finger tips. Merlin but she wanted to fight him. To feel that fire lick at her life force even as she ran him through...

Bella was broken from her euphoric contemplations by movement at the edge of her vision. Spinning she could only watch in horror as the leader of the assassin's dashed forward with a blade armed bared. He leaped impossibly high over her, dodging the rapid killing curses she hurled as he descended in a deadly arc right onto Harry. His blade stabbed the young arch mage through the stomach with a sick sucking noise, before it melted from the intense corona of heat that surrounded Harry.

Dimitri screamed in pain as the fire about Harry ignited his cloths and singed his skin. Falling to the ground the assassin leader apparated away with a harsh 'pop.'

The stab wound had shattered Harry's concentration and his fire vanished in an instant. Dumbledore's arctic winds howled their triumph as they swept forward across the battlefield, coming straight for Harry's fallen form. The barest moment before the icy wind extinguished his life he disappeared. Apparated away by Bella.

Bella appeared with Harry and Rabastin a moment latter in foyer of Malfoy manor. Bella was screaming for Lucius to summon a healer even as her mind writhed: someone else had done what only she was allowed to do. Someone else had hurt her Harry. Someone was going to die. Slowly. And painfully.


	13. What is Lost

A/N: 1. This chapter is rather short, sorry about that but I really wanted to end it where I did. the next chapter should be back to the normal length and out soonish (I have half of it written right now).

2. Don't own anything

3. Keeping reading and **Reviewing, **you guys are really encouraging me to push forward with this thing with your feedback :)

Chapter 13

What is Lost

_Harry floated a thousand miles above the blasted plains of Azkaban and looked down. Ruin greeted his gaze. Scorched stone and broken bodies as far as the eye could see. _

"_You really made a mess of things Harry." A voice chided from behind him. Harry spun at the sound, his wand instinctively springing to his hand even in the dream scape. A killing curse died on his lips a moment latter as his eyes caught up with his instincts._

_Hermione. His Hermione stood calmly before him, his wand poised between her eyes. Her beautiful, scarred eyes. "Hermione? But..you're...you're..." Harry asked in wonder, his wand slowly falling down to rest by his side._

"_Dead?" She finished for him calmly, "So I am. What's your point?"_

"_But how..?"_

"_You never truly cared about the how before Harry. Don't start now." Hermione said calmly as she floated next to him, "No Harry. It is not the how. It is not the why with you. It simply is. It simply must _be."

"_What is? What must be?" Harry demanded more harshly than he intend from the ghost Hermione._

"_You hear but you do not listen Harry. The same war. Different faces. Look below you! Look and see!_ _You cannot do this anymore Harry, you cannot!"_

"_I had to Hermione. I had to save Sirius..." Harry pleaded back to her expressionless face even as they seemed to dive closer and closer to the battlefield below._

"_So you did, but that is not of what I speak." Hermione countered calmly as they came to a stop at ground level. "Look around you Harry? Have you not seen the like a thousand times on a thousand different battlefields. Fire. Death, and you standing there in its midst"_

"_I did what I had to Hermione! I will never stop doing what must be done!"_

"_No you won't. Indeed, you can't anymore than I can cry. Fire and violence both consume those who would wield them Harry. What you have become will destroy you if you do not accept it, if you do not embrace it. You know what you must do. You must become the flame." Hermione said quietly in a cold, dead, voice that should have been ringing with passion._

"_No! Hermione, you cannot be saying that I should...that I should become like _Her! _All this, all this is a tool, nothing more. It has no purpose in and of itself, no higher cause!"_

"_And your war does Harry? Our war that in the end destroyed us all had some purpose? When all is meaningless who can tell the means from the ends? We are what we are Harry, what we have caused ourselves to become for good or ill. Struggle against it and it will consume you as surely as the Flames of Atlantis."_

"_I cannot believe that is the only path Hermione. I WILL NOT! Cry for me, cry for what we have lost, cry for something, anything, but please Hermione...please..." Harry begged the ghost of his best friend._

_Hermione regarded him calmly for an endless moment at his outburst before reaching out one ethereal hand and cupping Harry's face gently. Slowly she pulled him close until he was staring straight into her eyes._

_Their eyes locked for an eternity, before she slowly shook her head and removed her hand from his face. As she broke contact a single drop of blood fell to the ground from the jagged scar under her right eye._

"_There are no tears in me Harry. No Tears. Never what you want my poor friend. Only blood..." She said in her same emotionless tone even as she began to fade from view_

"_Hermione! Wait! Hermione!" Harry screamed even as consciousness rose up to claim him._

* * *

Bella twirled her wand with mounting anger as she stormed about the room that held the still-comatose form of Harry. Nothing had gone right. Nothing had gone as planned. Despite the best efforts of Lucius's healer Harry had not stirred in over three days. Despite her best efforts her own words to Harry echoed back mockingly in her mind whenever her gaze strayed to Rudolphus, _She's not yours you know...He's not yours. Not your mudblood, not your Rudolphus... _He was cold where her husband had burned with a flame to match her own. Too many years in Azkaban. Too long trapped without the Dark Lord to give him purpose had left only a shell of the man she had once been willing to die for. It was a cruel game that made her wonder if perhaps it had not been the Dark Lord who created the portal that flung them to this Tantalus's hell. _Look, but never touch. Thirst for something right before your eyes that exists only to spite you._

"Bella?" A voice asked tentatively from the doorway.

Bella spun at the sound of her name, wand leveled to perform a much needed _Crucio. _An instant before she let the ever-so-satisfying pain curse fly she pulled back as she identified her husband as the source of the disturbance, "Rudolphus. What do you want?" Bella snapped, her wand tip glowing a menacing red.

"I want answers Bella." Rudolphus said camly as he drew himself up to his full height and tried to ignore the dangerous gleam in his wife's eyes, "You've ignored me; you've ignored us all now for the last three days and with Merlin as my witness I want you to tell me it's not because of this pitiful scrap of a boy!" Rudolphus snarled bitterly while brandishing his wand.

"Aww, is ickle Rudy jealous?" Bella cooed maliciously, "Or perhaps my ickle Rudy is trying to cover up for that small mistake of his on the battlefield that nearly got us all killed!" Bellatrix howled in rage, her voice seamlessly shifting from mocking to deadly.

"I made no mistake..." Rudolphus began

"You allowed that damned Russian conjurer to stab Harry! Your sheer idiocy allowed Dumbledore to win the arch mage battle and come within a fraction of a second of freezing us all to death!" Bella cut in before her husband had a chance to continue.

"What of it? Death is a part of the noble dance of the battlefield. The true blood of Lestrange does not fear death!" Rudolphus roared back, his stolen wand leaping into his hand as he bellowed.

"But the true blood of the most ancient and noble house of Black embraces life!" Bella snarled back, "It is all well and good that you Lestranges's have countless crypts filled with the cold, deadbodies of a bunch of over-brave fools, but we Blacks would rather save that space in the earth for the broken corpses of our enemies!"

"How dare you! How dare you insult your own house! This notion that you are the blood of Black should have died the moment the ink on our marriage contract was dry!" Rudolphus snapped as he purpled in rage.

"Aww, poor ickle Rudy, didn't you know I never signed any contract with _you." _Bellatrix mocked a sugary sweet whine, the anger that had been building up at this creature that looked so like her husband leaking out poisonously.

"Death seems to have damaged your already fragile mind Bella. I watched you sign that contract in blood in front of nearly thirty witnesses!"

"No. NO! You did not. You watched Bellatrix Black, _your Bellatrix Black_ sign that contract. Not me. I signed a different one. I bound myself to a man now seven years dead and however much you resemble him, body and soul _you are not he!_"

Rudolphus opened his mouth to once again question the sanity of the creature standing before him who could clearly be nothing but his wife when a moan from Harry cut through the room, "Hermione...Wait!...Hermione!"

_That does it._ Bella thought in a strange moment of lucidity before lashing out in blinding, burning rage. She tried to _Crucio _Harry, but the oath stayed her hand. Rudolphus had no such protection as Bella's violent need to hurt someone caught him full in the chest. He fell screaming to the ground, withing beneath the pulsing red fury of a fully powered _Crucio._

_Yes..scream for me! Scream!_ Bella thought manically as she reveled in the old comforting sound of pain that engulfed her. Yet, somehow, this time it wasn't enough. The screams weren't loud enough to drown out those hateful words. That hateful name. _How dare he sully the blood of Black with a mudblood! _Her conscious mind roared, even as a deeper voice whispered darker reasons behind her umbrage, _He's mine! Mine to hurt, mine to fight! No mudblood touches my things!_

The screams from _Curcio _were not enough. She needed more, "_Ipsa Agno!" _Bella snarled as she unleashed the soul writhing curse against Rudolphus, dragging his essence through the fires of the underworld.

The screams rose to a frenzied pitch in answer. It could have deafened everyone for blocks around, but it was still not enough to drown out that hateful mudblood's name. She held the curse far longer than she should have. She held it to the brink of madness and beyond, hoping that somehow that pushing the screams farther would make them finally satisfy her.

_He's not the one you want to hear scream. His pain means nothing. _That damned voice in the back of her mind whispered just as Rudolphus's cries cut off with a wet gurgle as his mind finally lapsed into thankful unconsciousness.

"I think you broke him Bella." A voice croaked softly from behind Bella a moment after silence descended across the room.

"Finally decided to wake up Harry?" Bella asked as she spun around to watch Harry slowly and painfully pull himself to a sitting position.

"Pretty hard to sleep with all the racket you're making in here Bella." Harry drawled, though it came out as more of a dry, rasping croak.

"If I had known all it would take to wake you was an impromptu torture session then I would have done it ages ago. Makes me wonder if perhaps I should consider a medical career..." Bella drawled with amusement at the horrified look on Harry's face.

"Somehow Bella dear I don't think the current medical journals are quite ready to publish your articles on the healing properties of proximate torture." Harry shot back with a soft chuckle in-spite of himself before turning serious again, "What happened at Azkaban Bella?"

"I find it hard to believe that you could forget Harry, but then again if anyone could miss a three foot piece of steel being shoved through their gut I guess it would have to be a lion." Bella snarled derisively as she stalked slowly over to Harry's bed.

"Much easier to be brave when one has a selective memory." Harry countered, slowly regaining his normal voice.

"Much easier to be stupid too." Bella drawled.

Harry pointedly ignored Bella's last comment as he slowly rose up from the bed to take a few wobbly steps, "Did everyone make it out?"

"Your concern for the death eaters is touching Potter, but yes, your worthless mutt of a godfather did escape." Bella answered easily, clearly reading the true question in Harry's words.

"Thank Merlin. Though I must confess I was worried for a moment when I saw you in the room with me instead of him."

"I'm hurt Harry. Though I must say that it explains more than a few things that you prefer the company of slobbering male dogs to that of ravishing females. I'm sure your little mudblood would be devastated to hear" Bella cooed sweetly in a voice dripping with hate.

"Leave Hermione out of this!" Harry snarled, instantly defensive.

"Why do you cling to her Harry? For the love of Merlin why do you allow that slag to taint the noble blood of Black? Why do you allow someone of such utterly degrading stature to taste the power that races within your pureblooded veins? Bella snarled right back, her wand glowing an impotent red as the oath prevented her from unleashing a much needed curse.

"I do not cling to her! I'm with her because she's blood fucking brilliant, because she's beautiful, but most of all because that _mudblood_ sacrificed everything for me! Everything! Perhaps that means nothing to your cold Black heart Bella, but alas I'm a lion and it damned well matters! How could I not be with her when she stood by my side for ten years of horror never flinching, never yielding! How could I not when she broke everything dear to her into pieces _for me!_ How could I not when the shy, brilliant little girl became a cold killing machine that I might survive!" Harry roared, his aura flexing menacingly with every word.

"_She _did none of those things Potter! Open your fucking eyes! Do you think the nervous, jealous little creature you found here is the equal to your mudblood? To our mudblood, who's very name scared everyone but the Dark Lord himself shitless! Death eater recruits would seriously consider falling on their own swords rather than accept an assignment against her and have to stare into those Merlin blighted eyes!

So tell me Harry, tell me how the sad social reject this filthy dimension has spawned can ever compare to our Granger? Tell me why you waste your time and your blood on her!" Bella demanded, her own aura rising to meet Harry's pulse for pulse.

"She...I...I.." Harry stuttered before snarling in rage and slamming his fist into the nearest wall. His magic enhanced punch echoed off the ancient stone with a deafening 'crack' as the whole room trembled for a brief moment.

"This is not our world Harry. The people here are not the ones we buried." Bella said, her voice sounding almost sympathetic.

"No. No! I won't accept that Bella. I can't accept that. This is a new world. A new chance. It has to be..." Harry trailed off sadly as he slowly collapsed back into his bed with an exhausted sigh. _It has to be..._


	14. Behind Closed Doors

A/N: 1. Sorry about the delays guys, real life has been crazy

2. Don't own anything, just playing

3. Keep reading and **reviewing, **It really pushes me to write this thing.

4. This chapter isa bit more than againhalf as long as the last one, so more normal in length :)

Chapter 14

Behind Closed Doors

Lucius refused to believe that he was cowering, Malfoy's never did anything so undignified. No, he thought, he wasn't cowering, just strategically brooding behind a locked, barred and blood-warded door while ridding out the raging storm that was Bellatrix Black.

Ever since she had returned to the manner with that Merlin blighted Potter brat in a bloody heap she had been absolutely incorrigible. She was worse than the Dark Lord himself at the height of his rages.

Things had only gotten worse once the Potter child actually awakened. Rudolphus was still little more than a gibbering heap. The wards of Malfoy manor were in a state of perpetual structural flux from some incredible burst of accidental magic and, to add insult to injury, there was some damned mangy grim roaming the manor grounds who somehow managed to avoid every one of the elves efforts to drive it off. Nothing was as it should be since Bella had walked out of the realms of the dead and back into his life.

_Narcissa. _He thought with a tired sigh as tears once again fought a vain battle against the implacable Malfoy facade. Malfoy's had no tears for grief no time for mourning, but still...but still he missed her.

Theirs had been an arraigned marriage that he had initially dreaded. The thought of living with one of the hot-headed Black sisters as a useless trophy on his arm for the rest of his life was not one that he was eager to dwell on only days after coming into his own birthright of cold, Malfoy blood.

Narcissa had proved his every expectation wrong. The blood of the most ancient and noble house of Black seemed to affect her differently than her insane siblings. Instead of foolhardiness like Andy or mad bloodlust like Bella, Narcissa's Black blood had manifested itself in a streak of utter ruthlessness a mile wide. At times she seemed to be almost more a Lestrange than a Black.

That ruthlessness coupled with her devastating intellect and power made her a matchless partner and ally in the long brutal war that marked the first rise of the Dark Lord. In that time he had come to lean on her more than he could have believed. She was the one ally he never had to doubt, the one constant in his wretched world ofdeath and betrayal.

Now she was gone. Stolen from him by her own cousin. No one stole from a Malfoy and lived to tell the tale: Sirius would be begging for death by the time he was done with the convict. Lucius thought with a bitter grin as he settled back to read one of his families ancient books on sadomancy.

* * *

Amelia absently stunned Kingsley for the seventh time in order to stifle his screams before rebinding him and once again employing her small, grey, spy-pensive to leech every memory of the battle she could from her second-in-command's mind. Spy-pensives were a nasty invention that surfaced in the chaos of the second world war. They had been banned within three days of their creation, a record surpassed only by the _Crucio _curse.

With one of the highly illegal devices one could take memories from unwilling subjects and examine them in a leisurely fashion. Beyond the obvious ethical questions such a device had generated the process of extracting the memories was less than pleasant for the victim.

_Good thing my room is sound proof. _Amelia thought wryly as she carefully placed the mass of silver thoughts she had ripped from Kingsley's head into the viewing bowl. Amelia hesitated for one last moment to make sure the auror was well and truly stunned before she took a deep breath and dunked her head in the bowl.

An hour and a half latter she emerged to find a furiously looking Kingsley struggling vainly against the steel cords she had conjured to hold him fast to the chair. Kingsley's look of fury quickly faded to one of fear as he took in the expression on Amelia's face.

"You idiot!" Amelia roared as she blasted Kingsley across the room, "You utter fool! You knew the capacity of those two and you still led _my _aurors against them? Do you have any idea how long it took me to build this corpse? Do you have any idea how far your foolish disregard for the lives of those under your command has set me back?"

"Things were different this time Amelia, we had Dumble..." Kingsley began only to be cut off by another angry blasting curse from the head of the DMLE. "Yes, yes I saw just how much good your precious headmaster did out there! Without that damned Russian conjurer the other arch mage would have brunt you all to ashes! I'd throw you in Azkaban for terminally poor judgement Kingsley but sadly it's not in a state to hold prisoners anymore!"

"What wold you have had me do Amelia? Stand by and let them make off with the most dangerous criminals in the wizard world?" Kingsley shot back as he frantically tried to dodge curse after curse from his bound position

Amelia didn't bother to answer as she calmly leveled her wand at Kingsley and stated, "_Avada Kedavra!" _Kingsley had a brief moment to look at the green bolt of death in stunned disbelief before it hurled him backwards to the ground unmoving.

_It's a good thing the casualty reports from Azkaban haven't been released yet. Looks like I'll be giving one more speech beside the grave of a 'fallen hero.' Unless...yes..that could work. _Amelia thought with growing glee as a new plan slowly coalesced in her mind.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore was a wizard who prided himself on his iron control, but he liked being surprised nearly as little as he liked being defeated. To have both happen to him in the same breath was not something to which he was accustomed. He felt his legendary control slip as the headlines of the _Daily Prophet _mocking stared up at him:

_**Azkaban Breakout led by renegade Order of the Phoenix!**_

_**By Rtia Skeeter**_

_Reports issued last night by the DMLE indicate that a massive breakout occurred at the high security prison. Details are sketchy, but we at the Prophet have caught rumor that escapes include several prominent death eaters and even Sirius Black himself. Although the details on who escaped are unclear one thing that the DMLE stated unquestionably was that the breach of the legendary fortress occurred because of a direct act of treachery from the vigilantly group the Order of the Phoenix._

_Department head Amelia Bones hinted to this reporter in an exclusive interview that __the order of the Phoenix, reportedly led by none other than Headmaster Dumbledore himself, manage to compromise a high level auror_ _and use his position to engineer the breakout._

_For more details of the deeds of the escaped death eaters see page 3. For information on the nefarious past acts of the Order of the Phoenix please see pages 4 through 22..._

Dumbledore fumed as he read the page after page of slander against his personal army. By the time he reached page 17 it was too much. Every single _Daily Prophet_ across the whole of Hogwarts exploded in blue flames as the legendary arch mage lost control of his temper. _Damn Amelia! Merlin blighted witch is too cunning by half. Even Tom wasn't this much of a threat to my power! There has to be someway to bring this witch to heel. _Dumbledore thought as he sent a pulse of magic through his signet ring to call a meeting of the Order. They needed to do damage control and fast. If this was allowed to run its course Fudge, the idiot, would be only to eager to distance himself from Dumbledore. Once that happened the fat fool was a sitting duck for Amelia to destroy at her leisure. Amelia in charge of the DMLE was bad enough, Amelia as minister would be a disaster.

* * *

Lucius absently cursed the fates as a light in his warded chamber began to flash, indicating that someone was requesting permission to enter the manor wards. With his house packed to the brim with escaped convicts now was not a time that he was in the mood to receive a random inspection from an auror looking for a quick bribe.

Walking over to the flashing jewel that served as the control stone of the manor wards Lucius absently tapped an intricate pattern over its flawless surface, engaging a magical signature sweep of his unexpected guest. When the results came back a moment latter it made Lucius snarl in frustration: for some reason Amelia herself had decided to grace him with her presence.

_Fuck. Still, I'd best go deal with her quickly before Bella gets any crazy ideas. _Lucius thought as he cautiously lifted the wards that surrounded his door and crept out into the hall. Seeing no sign of Bella and hearing none of the telltale screams that would indicate her presence Lucius straightened his posture and walked with a confident stride though the manor.

Five minutes latter Lucius stood in front of the gates and tapped his wand in an inverted star pattern to admit the head of the DMLE, "Amelia, your presence does me honor," Lucius began smoothly as he ushered the witch in with a bow that was a touch over elegant even for a Malfoy, "though I must ask what brings such an exultant witch to my humble dwelling."

"If your dwelling is humble Malfoy I hate to think of just what that means for the rest of us." Amelia drawled back with dark amusement as she stepped into the manor.

"So do I. Bloody Peasants." Lucius dead-panned as he ushered her towards the north study, as far away as he could get from Bella's usual stalking grounds without entering hidden portions of the manor.

"Your egalitarianism does never cease to amaze Lucius." Amelia shot back as she gestured to encompass the fabulous wealth on casual display about the manor.

Lucius merely smirked in response as he gracefully opened the door to the north study and gestured expansively for Amelia to proceed him. Amelia shot him an odd look and Lucius was sure she muttered something to herself about being an idiot to show a Malfoy her back before swiftly proceeding through the door and taking a seat in front of an elegant writing desk. Lucius followed her into the room a moment latter as he closed, locked and covertly slashed his palm to throw up a bloodward over the door.

"If I didn't know better Lucius I'd say you're afraid of something in your own house." Amelia said with an arched eyebrow as Lucius took a seat across from her. _Damn guess I didn't set that blood ward quite as covertly as I thought. _Lucius mused internally while outward simply giving Amelia a Malfoy 'look' and drawling, "I haven't the faintest idea what your talking about Amelia. Tea?"

"Please. Two sugars and some of that delightful poison you slipped me back in '73 if you please." Amelia said, "The slight nutty flavor it adds is truly delightful."

Lucius bowed his head slightly in acknowledgment of the auror's more than justifiable paranoia before idly gesturing and banishing the tea he had laced with truth serum, "Well if its not for my lovely tea to what do I owe the pleasure of paying host the Matriarch of the most ancient and powerful house of Bones?"

"I'm not here my capacity as Matriarch." Amelia said flatly.

"Really?" Lucius drawled with a hard edge suddenly falling across his voice, "Then what business does the chief auror think she had playing around in the den of the most ancient and deadly house of Malfoy?"

Amelia causally ignored the threat in Lucius voice and replied back almost flippantly, "I'm looking for someone that I have a suspicion you're acquainted with."

"That hardly tells me anything Amelia. We Malfoy's know everyone in this world worth knowing."

"Wonderful. Then you won't mind telling me just how I can get in contact with Bellatrix Black." Amelia said calmly, smiling to herself at the brief expression of annoyance that flickered across Lucius's face.

"I would recommend throwing yourself through the veil Madame Bones. Bellatrix is dead, I had the distinct displeasure of seeing her remains myself during that terrible ministry mishap that unjustly placed me Azkaban."

"Yes, quite a mishap that wasn't it? Would be a pity if such a mistake were to repeat itself due to a slip of the pen don't you think Mr. Malfoy?"

"No more so than if a slip of my wand tragically caused my wards to incinerate anyone trying to leave my manor. My hands do get rather shaky these days with all the fire whiskey I've been drinking to forget the sad state of affairs in the wizard world. Dangerous thing that when the gesture for 'kill' and 'open' are so similar." Lucius drawled back with venom only a Malfoy could muster

"You would threaten me Lucius?" Amelia snarled as her hand slowly crept down to the disillusioned dagger resting on her belt.

"No more than an upright department head such as yourself would threaten an upstanding citizen such as myself." Lucius said with a placating sweeping of his hands that left them resting within easy reach of his vials of poison gas.

"We can dance this dance all day Lucius or you can just tell me what I want to know. I know Bellatrix Black isn't dead. I used a bloody spy pensive to confirm it!"

"Admitting illegal acts now Amelia? Are you sure that's the wisest idea?"

"With the magical interference generator in my pocket its really no matter." Amelia drawled as she absently patted the small metal orb that emitted nearly undetectable waves of latent magic which distorted almost all known recording spells beyond use. "Now, Lucius, where is Bellatrix?"

"What makes you think I know Amelia?" Lucius drawled cooly

"Please Lucius don't insult my intelligence. Bellatrix liberates a bunch of death eaters and then disappear to a location that baffles our apparation traces, could she really have gone anywhere else?"

"The Riddle house." Lucius suppled helpfully, hoping that he could send Amelia on a wild goose chase into that death-trapped fortress.

"I'll believe that when you lead me through the front doors of that hell-hole yourself. Bellatrix may have a reputation for insanity, but even she's not stupid enough to try to enter that place without the Dark Lord to unlock the ward grid.

Lucius was about to point out that Bellatrix's reputation for insanity clearly did not nearly do the truth justice when he was driven to his knees by a howling impact of wild magic against his hastily set bloodwards.

Amelia shot up from her seat with battle-honed reflexes as she watched her host writhe in pain on the ground. Tearing her eyes away from Lucius to search for the source of his pain she noticed that the heavy door was glowing a brilliant red. _Someone's tearing through his bloodward in his own house? _Amelia thought with mute astonishment, _That's not possible! Not even Dumbledore is that strong!_

As Amelia gripped her wand tightly with nervous anticipation Lucius let out a hoarse scream as the glow around the door intensified to a sickening green. Then, without warning the glow cut off. Amelia allowed herself to relax for a fraction of a second, only to jump in shock as the wall next to the door exploded inwards.

Standing in the gap, surveying the room with malicious glee was a tall black haired woman who could only be Bellatrix Black. Slowly her insane violet eyes swept the room, taking in and dismissing the ruin her entrance had left as well as Lucius lip and moaning form. It was only when her eyes came to rest on Amelia that they stopped their mad roving.

She regarded Amelia quizzically fora long moment, tilting her head from side to side idly as she tried to place the witch. Finally a wicked smile appeared on her face that seemed to make her violet eyes blaze with flame, "Madame Bones...it has been, too long." Bella drawled in a near perfect impression of a Malfoy.

The Malfoy coldness was a terrifying juxtaposition with the mad Black fire that blazed about the supposedly dead Bella. Amelia found herself unconsciously taking a step back and falling into a defensive stance.

Bella noticed her motion and shook her finger at Amelia mockingly, "Aww is ickle Amelia afraid of poor little Bella? We'd better take away that wand before you hurt yourself." Bella mocked as she moved with viper-like quickness to disarm Amelia.

Amelia barely saw the crimson bolt fly towards her. It was only reflex that saved her as the endless practice from her auror days kicked in, sending her diving to the left. She was up on her feet an instant latter, circling the insane Black as she tried to reach the door.

Bella simply smirked at the attempt as she neatly cut off the attempt with a raid side-step and acid curse combination, "Now tell me Amelia, what is it you do these days? I must confess I'm a little behind on current events." Bella asked conversationally as her wand spat a barrage of dark pain curses at the other witch.

Amelia was panting hard as she twisted, turned and shielded to prevent the deadly curses from impacting. _She's toying with me. _A tiny part of her brain clinically noted as the rest of her tried to draw on the cold calm that had served her so well in the past.

"I'm head of the DMLE! I would recommend in the strongest terms that you stop this unlawful assault upon my person and I may be able to overlook the illegal curses you have preformed so far." Amelia snapped back coldly, refusing to be drawn into Bella's game.

"The head of the DMLE...how...interesting. Now enlighten me Amelia, just why is the head of the DMLE talking to my dear Lucy? Its not that I don't trust him, its just well, you know how Malfoys are?" Bella asked almost amiably as she effortlessly slipped through Amelia's defenses to land a momentary _Crucio_.

Amelia bit back a scream at the fleeting contact with all of her will power before managing to snarl back at Bella, "I was looking for you." _Auror rule number seven: tell psychotic death eaters the truth, it confuses them. _Amelia thought with triumph as a brief flash of puzzlement flashed across Bella's features.

Deciding to press her advantage before the mad witch resorted to more _Crucio_'s Amelia rapidly added, "I watched the battle of Azkaban, I wanted to speak with you and your companion."

Bella considered the comment for a long moment before giving a curt nod and indicating that Amelia should return to her seat at the desk. Amelia cautiously made her way over to the chair and sat down, never taking her eyes or wand off of Bella for all the good she knew it would do her: the death eater was too fast to be believed.

"I must admit Bellatrix I'm rather curious as to just what your plans are." Amelia began cautiously only to be cut off by a derisive snort from Bella, "I'm crazy, not stupid Amelia, why on earth would I tell my plans to the head of the DMLE?"

"Because if our plans happen to coincide a mutually beneficial relationship could be established." Amelia said quickly as she struggled to hide the growing desperation in her voice. Bella simply laughed in response, a mad giggling that sent shivers up Amelia's spine.

"Aww, is ickle Amelia doing something she shouldn't be?"

"Ickle Amelia is trying to stuff the old man in a coffin." Amelia snapped back as her temper finally got the better of her fear. Bella looked shocked for a moment before a wicked grin broke out on her face, "Indeed?" She asked, all traces of mockery gone from her voice, "Perhaps I can be of assistance. But, why would I want to pit myself against the old fools rather formidable power if I can avoid it?"

"He'll be sending the Order to kill you after what happened at Azkaban."

"Good. I do love the screams of foolish Lions." Bella countered, clearly not impressed by Amelia's reasoning.

"He's a bastion of the light and..." Amelia tried again, attempting to come up with some angle that would appeal to the twisted witch's mind. Bella cut her off before she could get more than a few words out, "As much as I love playing games I fear I lack the Malfoy patience to do so. I'll help you against the old man, but I want you to do me a favor in return."

"And what's that." Amelia asked, leaning forward unconsciously at the conspiratorial look on Bella's face.

"Well you see there's this mudblood..." Bella began, never noticing that Lucius had awoken from her attack against his bloodwards and was listening intently.


	15. Until I Break

A/N: 1. Well it's finally here. Real life and writers block conspired to make this take forever. On the plus side its the longest chapter ever.

2. Don't own anything

3. This is a transition chapter that begins to introduce the main plot and leads up to what should be the second major battle next chapter. After the major battle you will get Harry/Bella (Finally, I know)

4. Keep reading and **reviewing. **It really makes me stick with this even when the going gets tough :).

Chapter 15

Until I Break

Hermione growled in frustration as she tossed aside yet another massive tomb of dark magic. The damned curse wasn't in there, not that she really needed to know about the _Necran Demaritam_ curse. No. There was no earthly reason, pure scholarly interest.

_Well that and to prove that fucking bitch Bellatrix wrong. _Hermione admitted to herself with a silent snarl. There had been something entirely too possessive about the other woman when she looked at Harry.

_It doesn't matter. Harry is mine. He has to be, fate has been cruel enough to me before now. This is my justice. My right! And no goddamned resurrected death eater from a parallel world is going to take that away from me!_

_Besides she can't know him very well if she thought he was sadistic. I mean this is Harry! Harry hates to see anyone else in pain! _Hermione rationalized to herself idly as she flipped through a blood encrusted book whose titled seemed to roughly translate to 'Sadomancy, you too can inflict ruinous pain! Great for massacres, executions and weddings!'

_Must be a problem with that damned Egyptian translation spell again. I'll have to get on Croaker about fixing that. _Hermione thought idly as she paged through the book carefully scanning for anything interesting. It was not until she reached the last chapter of the book that a section finally jumped out at her:

_Necran Demaritam_ _is perhaps the most deadly spell in the arsenal of a true sadomancer. It was used extensively during the 32nd war of Set, but fell out of favor soon afterwards due to the invention of a counter curse (_See Necratis Angelous

_Despite this short coming the spell is not to be underestimated. Its deep purple field is capable of engulfing an entire battlefield in waves of soul destroying pain if the sadomancer can summon the necessary depths of hatred_.

_While hatred is the critical component in determining the magnitude of the spell's expanse, extensive research undertaken by Lord Horus XVI, most favored of the god's of the underworld,_ _has revealed that the basis of this extraordinary spell is in fact a fundamental desire to revel in the pain of its victims. _

_Indeed, Lord Horus XVI speculated that the basic matrix of the spell _demands _such emotion in order to stabilize the allegorical core_ _reference to an act of condemnation to underworld damnation upon which the spell is built..._

_Yes. Definently a problem with the translation spell. _Hermione though with grim determination as she slammed the book shut with a resounding 'thud.'She was spared any further rationalization by a tentative knock on her door.

Instantly she was on her feet and rushing towards the door, pausing only long enough to palm her wand. _That had better be Harry. That bastard has some explaining to do! Its been almost a full week and not even an owl? There will be curses. _Hermione thought as she hesitated for a brief moment in front of the door to throw up a rather rude surprise for anyone who wasn't Harry. _Never hurts to be cautious. That, or introduce Bellatrix to 10,000 volts of electric shock._

Shock ward in place, Hermione wrenched open the door and found herself face to face with one of the last person she had ever expected to darken her doorstep.

* * *

Ronald Weasly was not a happy man. Somehow, amidst a veritable firestorm of eye twinkling Dumbledore had persuaded him to go out and gather intelligence for the Order. Now, it was not that he was against digging for information, after all, his primary role in the Order was to pass on anything interesting that he overheard at the Ministry. However, this new assignment had nothing to do with the Ministry and everything to do with a girl who, in their last three interactions, had broken his nose, cursed him into a week of continuous nightmares and blasted him across the room with a forgotten bit of Egyptian magic that stung like no ones business.

_Come on Ron, you can do this. A little bookworm can't be any worse than Fudge. _He thought as he steeled himself in front of her door. _But this bookworm has one hell of a right-cross_. A voice in the back of Ron's mind whispered as he tentatively tapped on the door.

The door opened a half second latter and Ron had a briefmoment to take in the utterly shocked face of Hermione before he was blown backwards by a cackling ball of blue-grey lightning. He landed in a twitching heap nearly twenty yardsaway with a sickening thud.

Hermione stared down at him from her doorstep, not a hint of apology on her face, "Well, I can't say you were the one the spell was meant for, but I find myself not terribly disappointed in the mix-up. Now, what in Merlin's name do you think you are doing here Ronald?" Hermione snarled with her arms crossed scornfully across her chest.

"Came...came..to talk..to you..." Ron managed to gasp out as he struggled to his feet with great difficulty.

"And why on earth did you think I would lower myself to speak with the likes of _you?" _Hermione shot back savagely as she uncrossed her arms and aimed her wand straight at Ron's battered form, "Now, traitor, why don't you just turn around before I do something permanent that I won't regret one bit."

"Please... Hermione...Dumbledore...he has to know..." Ron said in response a split second before his rational mind recalled that dropping the headmaster's name was not likely to win him any points with the already pissed off witch.

"The only thing Dumbledore needs to know is that I am going to kill the next little bird he sends snooping around here! Are we clear?" Hermione growled almost ferally as she silently began to catalog a list of spells she could cast on Ron that wouldn't violate the rather liberal rules the Unspeakables operated under.

The list of spells had grown to close to a thousand strong when Ron managed to gather his voice and courage back together in a valiant effort to prove once and for all that intelligence certainly was not a Weasly trait, "Hermione, please, just listen to me for one moment. I know you're angry with me, I know things havn't been civil between us for a long time, but this is for the good of the world! Please Hermione we have to know if you know anything about Harry."

"The only thing I know about Harry is that you betrayed him! That you all betrayed him! Burn in hell Ron! _Necran Dem–" _Hermionebegan only to have the final syllable of her curse cut off by a shrill screech.

Startled, the bookworm broke off the incantation and looked to the sky. Her gaze quickly fixed on a small speck that was growing larger with alarming speed. From out of the clouds the shrill screeching echoed once again as a majestic eagle-owl dove to the ground like a living meteor. It pulled out of its suicidal dive at the last second with a fierce beat of its massive black wings, before coming to perch elegantly upon Hermione's shoulder.

Hermione regarded the owl quizzically, it certainly did not belong to anyone she knew; nor, was it one of the Unspeakable's, they preferred owls that attracted far less attention than the noble monstrosity that perched on her shoulder. Shrugging to herself mentally Hermione raised her wand and cast a quick barrage of detection spells. The owl sat there calmly, an almost amused look on its face as though it were well used to such treatment.

Finding that there was not magic on the letter at all Hermione cautiously reached out and took it from the owl. Opening it she scowled as her eyes scanned its brief content:

_Mudblood, they're coming for you. Seems you managed to piss of Bella. Cheers._

_Now who the hell is this from? Bellatrix herself maybe? Could be an attempt to intimidate me. _Hermionethought frantically as she crumpled the letter into a ball with mounting anger. _Let them come. Let her come, I want a shot at that bitch. I'll show Harry whose better._

Hermione was broken out of her contemplations by the shrill screeching of an alarm as multiple apparation wakes disrupted the ward-web she had wove around her cottage.

_Come play with me Bellatrix. _Hermione thought with a feral smile as she threw an ancient Egyptian invisibility charm over herself and sat back to wait.

* * *

It lingered next to the boundary. Waiting. Watching. It could be patient. It had learned all there was to know about patience long ago. Ten years roaming the world as nothing more than a wraith. Then ten more roaming the depths of hell as even less than that.

It would have been so easy to give up. To give in and let all his careful safeguards and plans end in ruin. Sometimes the temptation still called to it, still whispered its siren's song when the pain of the lower realm surged to its worst, but it had known pain before. It would again. Real pain. Oh how it longed for the sharp bite of an honest stab wound, or the slow sizzle of a dark curse. They hurt, but nothing like the phantom agony that haunted it in this netherworld.

The pain was worst at the boundary, an ancient joke by some cruel power to prevent the souls of the damned from staring overlong at what they had lost. He didn't care. For ten years it had not left the strange glowing barrier. This close to it he could almost taste the rest of itself. Not an it. _He_. _Himself_.

The spirit was so lost in its musings that it almost failed to notice the boundary near it change from misty white to swirling grey. It almost didn't notice the soft threads of black magic that leapt up through the grey to reach out and caress him.

The spirit shuddered in what it supposed would have once been pleasure before it seized hold of the magical flows with a furious hunger, sucking power into his form to take the edge of his pain for a moment.

Slowly as the pain faded enough for coherent thoughts to take form it heard a voice calling to it trough the threads of magic. A slow cadence pulsing in time with an unseen heart beat.

"My lord," The tendrils of magic whispered, "how may I serve you?"

"Rabastin." The spirit hissed, "It has been too long. How fares that world without me? How are my faithful?"

"The world is debased my lord. The faithful scattered. But hope has come! Your queen of pain delivered a handful of us to freedom!"

"Bellatrix lives? Impossible. I can feel her presence on this side of the barrier."

"Impossible or not it is so my lord."

"Be wary my servant, she may be more or less than she seems. Still, beyond Bella and yourself which of my faithful now work tirelessly for my return?"

"Dohlov and Lucius my lord. Greyback and Jugson were lost in our escape."

"Ah, my strong left hand and the ever cunning scion of the Malfoy line. This is promising my servant, but what of your brother? Are there no others who work to revive our glorious cause?"

"Rudolphus had the misfortune of coming between Bella and an object of her obsession. As near as we can tell he's in worse shape than the Longbottoms."

"A tragic loss, though one must be prepared for such things when dealing with dear Bella I suppose. What is this object of her obsession?"

"Another being returned from the dead my lord. A powerful dark arch mage." Rabastin replied, his voice holding a slightly hesitant edge.

"Does she betray me for this new mage?" The spirit growled malevolently, its already sinister voice dropping into murderous hiss, "Does she think to find a new master in such an upstart?"

"I know not my lord. The circumstances are peculiar, as is the dark arch mage himself."

"Tell me of him then. Did I know his name while I still roamed the earth?"

"I'm not sure my lord. I fear he hides behind a mask of mockery, bearing a name that cannot be his own."

"You dissemble Rabastin, this does not please me." The spirit hissed as it tugged sharply on the magic tendril that connected it to Rabastin, causing the death eater to bite back a scream as his magic core rubbed against the barriers to the underworld.

"Now, what is his name?"

"..Potter my lord...he answers to Potter..." Rabastin said with a mental cringe, awaiting another painful tug against his magic core. When it didn't come he was surprised to find a sense of odd approval floating across his connection with the spirit.

"Interesting news Rabastin. Most interesting. If Potter can escape this place than I must be able to as well! It must have been the Unspeakables, it seems they finally have figured out how to use that damned veil of theirs to breach the thrice damned reincarnation barrier."

Rabastin found himself almost washed away by the spirit's excitment as it considered the ramifications of his old enemy being back in the world of the living. The reincarnation barrier was the ultimate bane of true necromancy. It made it impossible to bring a soul through intact by acting as a sort of one way scrambler, erasing and rewriting any soul that passed into the mortal realm through it. Occasionally truly powerful souls would manage to cling to an odd characteristic as they made the shift, a strange tick or a propensity to evil, but never in history had a soul survived the journey across with any of its old memories or personality intact.

If someone had found a way to breach the barrier thanit could finally make use of its last desperate failsafe and return to life. The traitor's potion had blastedits soul out of existence, even going so far as to destroyits six other horrocruxs that resided in the world of the living. Fortunately, as a mortal the spirit had been more paranoid than perhaps any other being in existence.It had placed a seventh horrocrux in the underworld with an anchor tied to a talisman held by his most loyal servant. The anchor was what let it linger by the barrier between worlds when any other spirit would have been driven fully into the afterlife long ago.

"Find out how Potter crossed the barrier Rabastin. I have been too long away from the world." The spirit hissed before servering the connection with a last violent drain on Rabastin's magic.

* * *

Harry parried hard to the left, wielding his holly wand like a sword as he swatted a blast of angry purple light away from him. _Seems the Dohlov in this universe favors the cutting flame curse as well. _Harry thought idly as the spell that had nearly killed Hermione in the department of mysteries back in his world flew into a nearby wall harmlessly.

_Hermione. I should be back with her, not here wasting my time with death eater scum. _Harry snarled to himself as he returned fire, sending a tightly packed spread of bludgeoning hexs at Dohlov. The death eater moved out of the way smoothly, whirling about the dueling chamber with an assassin's grace even as his wand spat a wall of mist.

_I should be, but damn Bella to hell and back, her fucking words rattled me more than I'd like to admit. _Harry thought as he banished the mist with a whip-like crack of his wand. As the mist cleared it revealed not one, but twenty Dohlov's facing him, wands poised to take.

_Illusions. That seems to be all this world really is. A new start offered by Dumbledore? I suppose it could be, but every day here makes me think it was good old Tommy boy who sent that damned vortex after me._

The Dohlovs moved as one while Harry mused, a veritable storm of hexs flying from all their wands. Harry waited until the last second before he wandlessly hurled a reflector shell in place, sending the spells right back to their point of origin.

One by one the illusions winked out as their own spells slammed into them, leaving only the real Dohlov standing. The death eater snarled for a moment at the loss of his images before he changed tactics, charging strait at Harry as he conjured a brace of daggers.

Harry simply grinned ferally as he waited for the death eater to come, _Ah how I wish life was like that, all lies and deceptions banished at the wave of a wand. Combat I can deal with, but the madness of this world..The madness of two Hermiones. Is this a new chance or just a cruel joke?_

Any further musings Harry might have had were cut off as Dohlov closed to range. Instantly the air rang with the echoing sounds of steel as the two moved in a blur of strikes and parries.

_He's good, _Harry thought, _but nowhere near Bella, _he amended as Dohlov fell victim to a disarming move that Bella would have spotted a mile off. Dohlov scowled at him for a moment before shrugging his shoulders elegantly and giving Harry a short bow of respect.

Harry wryly returned the bow, "Well fought Dohlov."

"Our definitions of the word 'well' must be slightly off Potter." Dohlov snarled good-naturedly as he as accepted his wand back from Harry, "I never even came close to you."

"I don't know about that Dohlov, that was a nice bit of illusion work you pulled off, I still don't know how you have the concentration to hold that many of them at once."

"I'd give credit to a good education, but the truth of the matter all it took was being shut up in Azkaban for a few decades: one learns a great appreciation for staring at the same thing intently when confined to a three foot square cell." Dohlov drawled as the two of them exited the dueling chamber and began the long walk back towards the great hall.

Harry chuckled at the death eaters grim wit. Despite himself he had come to like Dohlov during his brief stay at the manor. He was perhaps the one person in the manor whose face did not invoke a legion of ghostly memories from his old world. Moving through the shadows, killing and vanishing, Voldemort's strong left hand had been rarely seen let alone spoken with by members of the Order.

_I wonder if that Dohlov was anything like this one? Almost makes me feel bad him and Mad-Eye did each other in. Almost. _Harry thought absently before being broken out of his musings by a mad gurgling from a room on the left.

"Rudolphus." Dohlov spat with distaste, "Don't understand how Bella could do that to her own husband, Queen of Pain or no."

"Never underestimate the depths of Bella's cruelty or insanity." Harry snarled back. Dohlov stopped and turned to regarded Harry with a puzzled expression, "Rather harsh words from the person who seems to get along with her best."

"Best? I fear Azkaban may have done more to your mind than improve your concentration Dohlov. The happiest day of my life will be the one I personally pitch Bella into the depths of hell." Harry growled, as he spun to face Dohlov, emerald eyes blazing with hate.

"Easy there Potter." Dohlov said as he backed up a step and raised his hands in a placating gesture to the young arch mage, 'I wasn't saying you're ready to jump into bed with dear Bella, just that the two of you have a damned curious dynamic. I fought beside Rosier for nearly the whole first war. We were a team, the best one in the dark lords army, and never, and I do mean never in all those ten years did we ever have the kind of casual harmony that you and Bella do!"

"You learn a good deal about someone when you spend most of your adult life trying to murder them in the most painful way possible." Harry drawled back in response, his eyes still blazing with barely contained anger.

"Its more than that Potter. With Merlin himself as my witness its more than that!" Dohlov exclaimed, "You two are more than just enemies and we both know it! Did you see the way she defended you when you where fighting Dumbledore? The way she nearly killed everything in reach when she thought that damned Russian conjurer had finished you off?

No you two have played it well thus far, but I notice things others would missed. You may as well tell me the plan Potter, I know why the two of you are playing this game. I do admit I admire the subtly of the whole operation, posing as enemies to draw out the disloyal and the power hungry, perfect for dealing with gits like Malfoy. Does I a nice of job of correcting the usual hierarchy problems that occur in a monolithic resistance movement..." Dohlov began before trailing off as he took in the murderous expression on Harry's face.

"...Or perhaps I am mistaken..." He tired placatingly.

Harry simply snarled at him, ignoring the overture as he drew his wand and hurled the soul writhing curse, "_Ipsa Ag—, " _Harry began, only to be cut off as he and Dohlov vanished with an echoing 'pop.'

* * *

Lucius watched the scene unfolding below him with a critical eye. Eight plain clothes aurors against one admittedly quite competent mudblood Unspeakable, not ideal but it would certainly do. The aurors were attacking in two groups of four as they attempted to pincer and encircle the mudblood. Three of their number already lay dead or dying on the ground, victims to a vicious barrage of spells cast by the mudblood before they had managed to dispel her invisibility.

Slowly the aurors were pushing the mudblood back, gaining the upper hand by sheer weight in numbers. The mudblood probably could have bested them all with her phenomenal arsenal of spells and vicious temperament, but she fought like an Unspeakable and that was costing her dearly. Unspeakables were never deployed as combat troops, contrary to the popular rumors that floated around casting them as some sort of elite commando force. The reason for this was simple: they lacked the basic combat training that even the incompetents who called themselves aurors today underwent. Small but critical reflexes and tactics that were drilled into the mind of any wizard truly ready to fight in battle. Duck without thinking, dodge on reflex, hurling spell patterns that defeated evasion efforts were all essentials that the more academic minded Unspeakables lacked.

Even now, as Lucius watched her gruesomely rip every bone from an auror's body, he knew she was losing. Losing because even as she killed them they hurt her. The bone ripping curse cost her two long jagged cuts as its excessive swirling wand motion left her too far out of position to even throw up a simple shielding charm in time.

_Looks like the poor mudblood could use some help. Poor Bella, I'm going to enjoy watching her try to explain this little debacle to that precious Potter of her's. Serves the crazy bitch right, no one curses a Malfoy in his own house. _Lucius thought with a grin as he dove straight down at the battlefield, reveling in the mighty wings of his animagus form for a long moment before pulling up sharply and landing out of sight just behind the mudblood's house. The eagle owl form was one of his most closely guarded secrets, not even Narcissa had known of its existence.

Over the years it had served him well, bringing the end to scores of political enemies even within their most secure fastnesses. Every wizard suspected the message, none of them ever bothered to question the messenger.

Putting aside his reminiscence Lucius shifted back into his own form. Quickly he reached down and rotated the massive diamond that rested on his left hand ring, a gift from Narcissa put to malicious use.

Back in the mid 14th century the patriarch of the Malfoy clan, one Sappens Malfoy had created the _Retainus Dominus _spell. The insidious piece of magic allowed a wizard to reach into his family dwelling and wrench every wizard inside of it to his side in an instant. No wards on earth could stop the blood-fealty based transportation. More times than could be numbered Sappens had taken advantage of this little fact, ambushing his rivals at peace meetings that should have been perfectly safe.

Ever since Sappens every heir of the Malfoy clan had imbued the spell in some personal item they always carried, both as a means of protection and of ambush. Lucius had found the massive diamond on his ring was a perfect focus point for the spell, and had transferred it there from its earlier resting place in the head of his cane soon after receiving it.

As the ring finished its rotation with a soft 'click' a muffled roar surged across the clearing as the magic was triggered. The roar was followed a second latter by a score of harsh pops as every wizard in the Malfoy manor was transported to Lucius.

Bella was the first to appear, wand somehow already poised for combat. She was immediately followed by Potter and Dohlov who seemed to be having a less than amiable conversation if Potter's expression and drawn wand was any indication. The two Lestrange brothers appeared right on Potter's heels both falling to the ground in an awkward heap.

_Bother, forgot that the spell was going to bring me Rudolphus as well. Still, if nothing else it should make Bellatrix even more irrational. _Malfoy thought with a cold smirk as he surveyed the newly gathered wizards, "To what do I owe such a gathering?" Lucius drawled with amused Malfoy superiority as he imperiously swept his gaze across the gathered wizards.

"I won't speak for the others Lucy, but for the last five minutes an irrational urge to torture and kill has been building inside me. Imagine my pleasant surprise at finding myself next to you." Bella shock back with a malicious grin as she carelessly twirled her wand.

"Only the last five minutes Bella? Growing soft on me in your old age?" Harry drawled back as he shifted his wand from Dohlov to rest on the Malfoy patriarch, Lucius was entirely calm for this to be anything but his setup.

"Hardly Potter, but I was feeling curiously sated before hand from this marvelous pensive memory I was reviewing. You do recall that lovely little brawl in Portugal don't you Harry?" Bella all but purred at Harry while still keeping her wand resolutely trained on Lucius.

Harry snarled with rage at Bella's comment. He only too well recalled the ambush off the coast of Portugal that had claimed the lives of Padma and Parvati. Neither of them had died cleanly as their flying carpet was boarded by a kill team lead by Bella herself.

The only bright point of the whole battle was the stabbing curse he had managed to slip through Avery's guard in the chaos of the Order's retreat. It hadn't killed the death eater, but it did put him out of commission for nearly a month: a fact which frustrated Bella to no end.

"I do recall the end of it fairly well now that you mention it Bella. I hear my little parting shot damaged Avery's already poor performance." Harry shot back a moment latter as he slowly recovered his calm.

"A sad truth Harry, but then again there is more than one way to skin a cat and the ickle twins were most helpful to poor little Bella in making up for his absence." Bella simpered with glee as she watched Harry's face once again contort with rage. Lions were too ease.

"As much as I do love to watch the two of you fight, more entertaining things do loom in the distance." Lucius cut in with annoyance as the verbal brawl between Harry and Bella showed no signs of abating.

"That eager to feel the _Crucio _curse Lucy? I knew there was a reason you were always fouled up the Dark Lords missions." Bella said with a grin as her wand flashed to rest directly between Lucius's eyes.

Lucius forced himself to remain calm as he locked his gaze with the mad violet eyes of Bella. A _Crucio _to the skull was not something he wanted to experience from anyone, let alone the Queen of Pain with her disturbing tendency to drive people mad with evenmore mundane applications of the curse.

"Hardly Bella. I was merely pointing out that beyond the most humble dwelling behind us there waits the rather amusing scene of a mudblood being slowly overwhelmed by a party of plain clothed aurors." Lucius managed to drawl with every once of Malfoy disdain he could muster.

"I thought that since you had gone to all the trouble of setting it up you'd at least want to watch Bella." Lucius mocked as the stepped slowly away from the insane Black's wand, "Imagine my embarrassment when I accidently seemed to have brought everyone else along for the ride. I truly must apologize for wasting your precious time my friends." He finished with a flourishing bow that allowed his left hand to stray to his emergency portkey that hung on his belt.

Lucius activated the portkey a moment latter, disappearing from the field the barest instant before a soul writhing curse would have connected with his face. Meanwhile, while Bella was trying to tourture the Malfoy patricarch into insanity Harry had not been idle. Lucius words had left him cold inside. It couldn't be. The oath. And yet, somehow if there was anyone capable of twisting and distorting magic as ancient and powerful as the oath it was Bella. _Fucking snakes. _Harry thought as he sprinted around the house.

The scene that greeted his eyes on the other side was one out of his worst nightmares. Hermione was bleeding profusely, her right arm hanging useless at her side as she frantically tried to fend off an assault from six plain clothed men.

"Hermione!" Harry screamed, in terror, his minds eye watching with horrified fascination as the girl so like his Hermione fell to the ground in a bloody heap. It was too much. Too close to an image that would have broken him. His Hermione or not; scars or not he could not bear to see her likeness fall.

"_Sectus Imlo!" _He screamed, his wand sweeping towards her attackers in a wide arc. Sickly black flames followed in its wake as they shot forwardwith horrifying speed towards the aurors who barely had time to turn before the ancient curse slammed into them. The fire didn't simply burn, it clung, crawling over their bodies like some living, devouring thing.

Three aurors howled in agony as the Imp's Fire curse ate them alive. Harry didn't hear them; didn't notice at all except to glory in their pain in some deep recess of his mind. He was already moving, spitting death at the other four aurors.

"_Vivisecti moiti!" _Harry snarled as the slashed his wand forward violently in a harsh cleaving motion. A crackling bolt of emerald energy answered his call, shooting out from his wand with impossible speed the bolt impacted on the auror closest to Hermione, tearing him in half with a sickening wrench.

The remaining aurors had finally managed to turn to face the new threat. Their wands shook as they laid eyes on the green eyed monster that was striding inexorably towards them, an expression of soul-searing rage locked on his face. They had heard the rumors, paid heed to the whispers that circulated through the auror division of the battle of Azkaban, of the dark arch mage who fought like a merciless child of hell.

Some of the whispers said he was fifty feet tall, others that he had a hundred arms and wielded black lightning like some unearthly sword. The only thing all the tales agreed on was that he had eyes of purest emerald, eyes the color the wizard world had come to know meant only death.

Seeing those eyes locked on them now the aurors almost wished that the other rumors were true. Shakily their leader tried to restore order as he bellowed out the strongest shield charm he knew in preparation for the inevitable assault. He may as well have been trying to stop a meteor.

Harry didn't bother sending spells at them. Instead he pointed his wand at himself and muttered, "_Lunas Wolver." _In an instant his human form shimmered with pale light before beginning to ripple like water beneath the pale light of a newly risen full moon. As the magic played across his body it grew and changed, limbs elongated and hands sharpened into claws as Harry transfigured himself into a werewolf.

Taking advantage of his superhuman strength he covered the distance between himself and the shocked aurors in two massive bounds. Once he was among them it was not even a fight: clawed hands and six inch long fangs tore through flesh with casual ease as he disemboweled the aurors with six quick motions.

Even before the last auror had hit the ground with a pitiful moan Harry was shifting back to human form and running towards the fallen form of Hermione. He knelt by her side and hesitantly raised his hand to her neck to check for a pulse. He sighed in deep relief as he found one: slow, but steady and strong. It seemed that the damage must have been more superficial than it looked.

Harry raised his wand to heal the wounds, taking a moment to study the girl before him as he did so. It was still a vision from his nightmares, Hermione lying there, bloodied and battered, her eyes closed as though already descended into the eternal realm of the great beyond. Yet somehow seeing it this close softened the blow from a mortal wound of the heart to mere sacrilege.

The blood did not pool around the scars beneath her eyes as he had so often feared. She did not lay there expressionless, her ultimate sacrifice mocking him as he had dreamed in the dead night so many times during the war. No, her expression of pain and terror were somehow comforting. This was not his Hermione. This was merely an image, a symbol that reminded him of what he had lost.

The aurors still deserved to die for defiling that symbol, for trying to taking from him the last link he had to the girl he had lost on the final battlefield. Bella still had to pay.

"_Envenerate." _Harry whispered over Hermione as he healed the last of her wounds. She rose with a start, only to calm when she saw Harry standing over her, "Harry..you came...where were you..." She stuttered out as she slowly awoke back into her full capacities.

"Just taking care of some business Hermione." Harry said gently as he propped her up and then helped her too her feet, "Are you alright to walk?" He asked with concern as she leaned against him heavily.

"I'm fine, my left leg is just a little stiff." Hermione answered back. She was about to elaborate when an all too familiar voice cut across the field, "Aww, was the ickle mudblood hurt by the big bad incompetent aurors?"

"You." Hermione spat as she wrenched herself free of Harry's grip and spun to face Bellatrix. "You bitch! I know you were behind this little endeavor! You jealous pureblooded, inbred scum!" Hermione bellowed as she pointed her wand straight at Bella with deadly intent.

"You're one to talk about breeding mudblood, though that does seem to be all Potter finds you good for." Bella shot back with malicious glee as she smiled mockingly at Hermione.

Hermione didn't bother to answer as she shook with rage at the full force of her insecurities being thrown back in her face. Instead, in one lightning motion she stabbed her wand at Bella before screaming, "_Necran Demaritam_!" Ignoring Harry's frantic scream for her to hold. She would settle this bitch who thought she could claim her Harry here and now.

An angry purple cloud billowed out from her and raced towards a madly grinning Bellatrix. The death eater did nothing as she allowed the spell to slam into her. Hermione was able to watch Bella shriek in agony for one beautiful moment before the dark witch whispered the counter curse. Instantly the purple cloud retreated back from Bella who causally dusted herself off and drew her own wand and pointed it at Hermione.

"Not bad little mudblood, that tickled a little bit. Now, let a pureblood show you how its really done, "_Necran Demaritam_!" She screamed, taking advantage of Hermione's compromising of the oath to attack the mudblood with every ounce of hatred she had. A sickening cloud of crackling purple light the same mad color as Bella's eyes roared out from her wand, racing towards Hermione with murderous speed.

Hermione stared it down calmly with a cold, determined glint in her eye. She would show this pureblood bitch who was the better. She would show Harry once and for all that she was more deserving than his precious _Bella. _An instant before the curse was going to hit her Hermione acted. She raised her wand and stabbed it out towards Bella, her photographic memory once again supply the wand movements even though she had only read the spell that morning, "_Necran Demaritam_!"

The two clouds met in a violent explosion of magic a half inch in front of Hermione's face, sending unstable streams of magic off in every direction with ruinous results. The ground around them heaved in agony as the two spells fought and the very air seemed to become tainted as the two clouds of sadomancy poisoned the world about them.

Both spells gave at the same time, exploding out of existence with a deafening roar. Already both Hermione and Bella were moving, spells flying from their wands in a storm of colors. Bella casually side stepped Hermione's blasting and impaling hexes while looking on with pleasure as Hermione was bracketed by a pair of dark pain curses.

Bella's expression of pleasure turned to anger as a glowing golden shield snapped into existence between her curses and the mudblood, dissipating them harmlessly.

"Enough Bella! We swore an oath!" Harry bellowed in rage, his wand trained impotently on the Queen of Pain.

"Aye Potter, we swore and oath. Pity the mudblood violated the part of it that protected her isn't it?" Bella drawled back with amusement as she sent a killing curse straight at the shield Harry had conjured. The curse never reached its target as a conjured piece of stone rose to intercept it.

"We can both play that game Bella. We can both dance around the issue and start this damned war we were both so sick of over again if that's what you want!" Harry snarled back in response.

"Aww is ickle Potter threatening to act like a snake? My, my poor Gordic is rolling over in his grave." Bella taunted as she cracked her wand in a whip-like motion to hurl a curse Hermione had sent at her straight back to its point of origin.

"As ever Bella, I will do what I must to stop you." Harry defiantly stated as he layered defensive ward after ward around Hermione."

"Such noble words, you lions really must have a speech making fetish, makes me shudder what it must sound like when you debase the most ancient and noble blood of the hose of Black with that mudblood." Bella mocked as she dragged his knife across her chest, drawing a long line of blood and a longer moan of pleasure.

Before the blood could hit the ground Bella was moving once again, her wand a blur as she gathered it together and cast a spell of sanctification, driving all permanent and semi-permanent magics from the area.

"I swear you just use that spell for an excuse to cut yourself." Harry drawled as he rapidly replaced his wards with a spinning maze of conjured stone slabs around Hermione.

"You should try it some time Potter, much more satisfying than mudbloods, well sleeping with them that is: it doesn't quite equal that nice warm feeling of torturing." Bella drawled back as she ducked and spun around an increasingly frustrated Hermione's curses.

Harry snarled in rage and was just about to tell Bella exactly where making purebloods scream ranked on his list of favorite things to do when multiple apparation cracks captured his attention.

Spinning around to face the sound while still keeping the duel between Bella and Hermione in the edge of his vision Harry mentally groaned as he saw Dumbledore and five Order members materialize not ten feet from their position.

"We've got company Bella!" Harry shouted automatically, the events of the last week in this strange new world making him forgot for the moment that he was fighting the dark witch. Hermione noticed the slip and scowled furiously as she fought even harder to kill Bella.

"Does the ickle mudblood not think she can deal with poor widdle Bella on her own?" Bellatrix mocked while effortlessly dodging the renewed assault.

"Stand still and I'll show you just how little help I need to dispose of a cheap whore like you!" Hermione snarled before continuing on in her normal, business like voice, "Besides, I'm sure it was Ron who called them: the Order and I are not exactly on the best terms these days."

"Ever the know-it-all. How do you stand it Harry?" Bella said while shaking her head in amazement at the mudblood in front of her.

"Save it Bella." Harry snarled as he frantically tried to continue shielding Hermione while holding off the withering fire from the Order, "now, why don't you give me a hand before the Order overwhelms us all!"

"Certainly Harry, if you'll just hold off a moment and let me kill this mudblood I'll get right on it." Bella drawled as she continued her assault against the shields which protected Hermione.

"Bitch." Harry snarled in annoyance

"Snake." Bella corrected with a laugh as she collapsed a third of his wards with another quick piece of blood magic. Harry didn't bother to dignify her answer with a response as he instead used his newly kindled anger to pour power into a red ruin curse he hurled at one of the Order members who had strayed beyond Dumbledore's shield. The man didn't even have time to scream as the curse originally designed to slay kraken left nothing more than a red mist in its wake.

Still, even with one Order member down the other four were too much when combined with Dumbledore and Bella, he needed to even the odds. Slowly an idea began to form in his mind as he threw all of his power into an attack against the Order, praying Hermione could hold out on her own for the few seconds he needed.

The Order staggered back under the force of his arch mage grade assault. Another of their number fell before Harry's raw waves of energy as she was not quick enough to retreat when the Headmaster's outer shield wall cracked against the unexpected assault.

Taking advantage of the brief lull in Order attacks his furious assault had generated Harry reach in his pocket and rapidly enchanted a small conjured rubber ball. He needed to get Hermione to safety so that Bella would be working with him instead of against.

Hermione's wards made it impossible for him to portkey her out without her expressed permission, something he wasn't going to get. Fortunately, Bella didn't know that. Harry thought as he bound a touch activated disillusionment, paralysis and noise making charm onto the rubber ball.

His work finished Harry turned and hurled the ball straight at Hermione, calling out to her at the last moment, "Hermione catch!" She turned and caught the ball on instinct, only to disappear from sight with a slight pop on contact.

Bella snarled in frustration as she watched Harry somehow manage to portkey the mudblood to safety. Oh well, it didn't matter in the long run. If she could keep the mudblood on the run it would never be able to touch her Harry again, never be able to defile the line of Black.

Turning her attention away from the now absent mudblood Bella's eyes gleamed with excitement as they took in the waiting Order. It was time for war. Her and Harry against a bunch of over noble Lions who needed to be taught the true meaning of pain. Life really didn't get any better.


	16. Dangerous Misconceptions part 1

A/N: Sorry about the long delay guys, real life has gotten crazy now that I'm not a carefree undergrad. This story will not be abandoned, but updates (as I'm sure you've noticed) will become more erratic

A/N: That being said, thank you to everyone who read and **reviewed**. It really kept making me want to continue this story. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter, though do pay attention to the title or you may get confused :)

Chapter 16 Dangerous Misconceptions (part 1).

Albus glared out across the bloody field in front of Hermione's house at the pair who stood casually amidst the destruction. The resurrected Potter boy, if that's who he truly was, had an almost regretful look on his face: those too familiar green eyes shining with grim resignation as he held his gleaming red wand _en guard_ in front of his body. His companion clearly did not share any of the boy's remorse about the current situation. The dark witch's eyes gleamed with an eerie joy as sparks of malevolent energy crackled from the wand she casually twirled in her left hand. They were an odd pair, an improbable and, to this point, invincible, one whose alliance seemed hauntingly familiar.

_Later Albus, worry about it later. Right now there is a battle to be fought. _Dumbledore thought with a resigned sigh as he dismissed the intriguing problem from his mind. Maybe they'd get lucky and capture one of the pair. Unlikely, but then if worst came to worst necromancy was always an option for getting the answers one needed...

At the headmaster's side Moody's thoughts were nowhere near as academic as his ancient companion's. His battle-scared gaze whirled across the pair, searching for anything he could use: strengths, weakness or patterns. What he saw disturbed him. Both carried themselves with the easy grace of hardened killers. Their stances were professional enough to suggest extensive formal training and unique enough to show each had optimized them for their own, personal, fighting style.

The strange clone of Bellatrix Black carried herself much like the old Bella: a loose, easy, stance designed for movement and fighting in the midst of chaos she had every intention of bringing to the battlefield. However, this Bellatrix had somehow managed to adopt a stance even more bloodthirsty than that of her counterpart. Her left-handed wand grip already leant her a slight edge in offensive spells, but the deep tilt with which she held it in between its constant spinning put her within the barest of flick of the primary pain curse movement and several inches out of position to conjure any sort of magical shield.

_Sadistic that one. _Moody thought with a mental shudder as he swept his magical eye to consider her companion. The boy's stance was much more balanced that of Bellatrix, being a somewhat strange amalgamation of the static Malfoy style in the feet with just a touch of Flammel's neo-classical arch mage doctrine in the position of his wand. The right handed grip with a slight downward angle gave a fairly even balance between shield and attack spells, but sacrificed just a touch of overall speed for more ready access to power boosting movements.

_The boy's strong, no doubt about that after the debacle at Azkaban. Seems it carries over to his non-battle casting style as well. _Moody noted with a touch of worry as he gestured to Albus with his own complicated hand signals -- too easy for those other, careless, Order members to have compromised the normal ones.

Across the field Harry smirked internally as he easily translated the paranoid auror's hand signals. He had been more than close enough with his Moody to have learned the unique language he reserved for his own use. _Take the boy Dumbledore, he's too power heavy for me. _

_Idiots, still clinging to the old dueling doctrine. Ah well, should make this easier. _Harry thought with a grim smile as his own hands flashed in death eater battle talk to Bella.

_You and Lucius on Kingsley and Amelia Third battle of London. My mark. _Harry's smirk only grew at the puzzled look on Moody's face which followed the exchange. The crafty old auror had clearly understood the words, but its meaning would be lost to anyone who had not done battle in the inferno that marked the final destruction of the British capital. It had been one of the greatest death eater victories of the war as they drove the Order from their fortified positions within the city in nearly a week of running battle famous for both its use of inferni and fire. At the height of the battle Kingsley and Amelia had been anchoring the southern flank of the ministry line against a massive counterattack led by Bella and the Malfoy Patriarch. Surround and outnumbered the two old friends had killed nearly thirty death eaters after their command squad was engulfed. If they had been able to hold for another five minutes the Order probably would have won the battle as Harry and Hermione had been coming down from the north with nearly a hundred aurors to trap the death eaters in a vicious hammer and anvil maneuver.

Bella and Lucius, almost as if sensing the danger had led the final attack themselves. Bella dueled frantically with the head of the DMLE while Lucius exchanged volley after volley of spell fire with her second. At the height of the combat Bella had thrown herself away from one of Amelia's curses while bringing her wand to bear on a shocked Kingsley. The veteran auror had died an instant later as Bella's soul writhing curse left him helpless to dodge away from Lucius's killing curse.

The maneuver was instantly adopted by both sides' kill-teams after that and an entire doctrine of ways to implement and avoid it had sprung up amongst the top assassins.

Bella nodded her head slowly at his suggestion, her usual sadistic grin curling back into an even more menacing smile as she braced herself for the inevitable combat. Across the field Moody and Dumbledore slowly edged apart, giving themselves room to maneuver. At the same time Dumbledore raised his wand and sent a quick flash of silver light into the head of the other remaining Order member. The man hesitated for a brief moment after receiving the mental message before nodding his head in understanding and disappearing with a swift crack.

_Off to get reenforcements no doubt. _Harry thought idly as he tensed himself to strike.

A moment before he was prepared to level a nasty, wide-arc blasting curse at the pair in front of them, Albus raised his hands in a placating gesture and spoke, his grand-fatherly voice ringing with ancient authority.

"Harry, Harry my boy. Has it really come to this? Why do we fight? Why do you turn your back on the light?" The headmaster intoned solemnly with a look of deep sadness. Harry was cut off from responding with something suitably witty and biting, which would have pointed out that it was, in fact, the headmaster who had attacked him on both occasions, when Bella sprang into action with a mad cackle and soul writhing curse aimed straight at Moody's skull.

_Bella never did like listening to Albus. _Harry thought with a strange burst of affection as he too sprung into battle, a wordless dark-explosion hex rocketing towards Albus. The old arch mage dodged easily in whirl of purple robes as his own wand answered back with an icy-prison hex designed to leave its victim irreversibly, and fatally, frozen.

_Seems the old man's playing for keeps. _Harry thought absently as he batted away the spell with a practiced flick of his wand which brought it into the perfect position for a quick volley of soul writhing curses.

Albus was ready to meet them as he languidly conjured a flock of crows to block the onslaught. From there the duel intensified as they fell into a deadly rhythm of curse and defense. Killing curses flew both ways, exploding in sickly halos of green light as they impacted conjured walls and animals. Intermixed between the waves of green death a veritable rainbow of dark and near-dark curses rocketed back and forth as they probed each other for weaknesses.

Across from them Moody fell back slowly before the assault of a madly laughing Bella. Her wand moved like a living extension of her arm as she struck with snake-like speed, never giving the old auror a chance to do anything but defend against the never-ending stream of lethal curses that poured from her.

As Bella pressed forward with her onslaught, Harry found himself being slowly driven backwards by the deadly skill of the headmaster. His rain of dark curse were simply never enough to breach the old man's defenses, and the transfiguration counter attacks took far too much out of him to counter.

_Think Harry. Think! The Dark Lord could hold him at a stalemate, how did he do it? _Harry thought frantically as he leaped forward to redouble his attack, only to throw himself to the ground to avoid a crackling buzz-saw of yellow-green energy. Rolling to his feet a grim smile came to Harry's face as memories of half glimpses battles between the two greatest arch mages of his world slowly coalesced in his mind.

His stance shifted subtly, turning into a deadly prowl as he unconsciously prepared his new line of attack. If he could have seen through the haze of spell fire that filled the air he would have noted a momentary frown flitter across the headmasters face as he watched the change come over Harry.

Harry bided his time, giving ground until a brief lull appeared in the combat. Then he struck, lashing out with nothing but soul magic to counter the headmaster's transfiguration. The insubstantial grey bolts that flew from his wand passed straight through the wall of marble Albus conjured to block, drawing an uncharacteristic curse from the headmaster as he was forced to hastily slash his left hand to raise a blood shield to block off the soul destroying magics.

The brief moment the headmaster wasted in raising the incorrect defense was all Harry needed as he savagely took the offensive once more, hurling soul twisting and madness curses with reckless abandon. Tom had showed him the path to victory: the headmaster was a master of transfigured defenses, a discipline that was worse than useless against soul magic. Added to that, although the headmaster was a formidable wizard in nearly every discipline, his long fascination with the light-side of magic had left him lacking the area of blood magic, the best defense against soul based attacks.

It was now Albus's turn to reel backwards as he frantically searched his vast arsenal for some answer to the unexpected tactic. His left hand had been reduced to a bloody mess as he was forced to savage it time and time again to fuel the few, inefficient, blood magic shields he knew.

As the crackling grey bolts of death and madness reigned down unabated Albus allowed himself to begin to feel the faintest stirring of panic for the first time since Tom's rise all those years before. That panic only intensified a moment later as one of the ephemeral bolts clipped his left shoulder, sending a shuddering wave of cold through his entire being. It was like being immersed in a horde of dementors: his vision began to grey at the edges and his knees shook as the very will for life seemed to seeped from his ancient frame.

_...die old fool. Die. Die..your time is at and end...just lay down...accept the void.._malevolent voices whispered in his mind as the old headmaster fought with all his will to keep his wand up and on the defensive. His old bones ached, his mind spun: it seemed so easy, almost peaceful. All he had to do was lower his wand, to let one more spell through and all the pain, all the struggle; it would all be over...

_NO!_

He had not lived for nearly two centuries, not fought through the reign of four dark lords, not buried two wives and ten children to die here to some _boy _who did not even belong in this world! Anger surged through him and the headmaster allowed himself to drink deep of the power he had sworn on the grave of Grindlewald he would never unleash again. The voices fell back from his mind, burned away by the surging, pulsing tide of anger that filled him.

Three harsh, cross-like motions of his wand dispelled the last of the curse's effect, leaving Albus free to retake the initiative. He channeled the anger that burned within him into something more, something beyond mere human rage. A corona of cackling white flames built around him as the power slowly leaked out from his ancient form.

The soft light of the flames spread out from the headmaster's body, dispelling the soul magics long before they could reach him. Pure holy magic, strengthened by his righteous anger leant Albus strength as he retook the offensive. Crackling bolts of pure white power flowed from his wand, sending Harry staggering backwards from the force of their impact against his hastily raised silver shield.

_Merlin's beard! But this old bastard is strong. _Harry cursed to himself as he swiftly twisted his wand a full rotation to the right to snap a new shield into position. _Forgot about the old man's ability to work himself into a righteous rage. Better bring Bella in sooner rather than later. Though, knowing the damned snake I'll never hear the end of this. _Harry thought with a sigh.

"_Morsemorde! _He bellowed in the next moment, his wand spitting out the hated mark in a signal Bella could not miss.

The headmaster stared dumbstruck as he watched the dark mark pour from the wand of the Harry clone. What on earth was the boy thinking? Was he planning to turn and run? The dark mark would serve no purpose if he meant to stay.

Bella smiled as she watched the mark rise from Harry's wand. Ah the little lion was learning at last. The dark mark. Her masters mark. It still sent shivers through her spine every time she beheld the leering serpent and resplendent skull. The small part of her soul that the dark mark clung to even with Tom's death flared upward, spilling fiery, dark magic poison through her veins. She wanted more. The pain, the pleasure, it was exquisite, but she would have to savor it latter. The mark meant it was time for the old man to die. Again.

Ignoring the still reeling Moody completely Bella wandlessly banished herself straight towards the headmaster's flank, a soul writhing curse building on her wand as she flew through the air. She released it a moment later, giving Harry exactly 1.2 seconds to start his killing curse for optimum effect: the moment when the pain from the soul writhing curse would prevent Albus from raising any defense to his killing curse. It truly was an art form: strike too early and the enemy might see it coming; strike to late and they would have a brief chance to snap out of the pain and dodge the killing curse.

The standard defense against the killing curse was an innamate conjuration, which all used the root movement of two flicks and swish. The timing was such that the soul writhing curse should hit the caster at his most vulnerable; directly in between the flicks. Flicks were a tricky movement that did not have a long imprint on ones magic. In practical terms this meant that a pause of more than a quarter of a second between a flick and the next movement would botch a spell.

Bella grinned as she watched the sickly green light leave Harry's wand at precisely the perfect moment. Ablus was dead. He just didn't have the good sense to know it yet.

A fraction of a second before the impact of the soul writhing curse the air of the field was disrupted by a score of harsh 'pops.' The Orders reenforcements had arrived. One of them, the perpetually clumsy Tonks, had the sincere misfortunate of appearing directly in the path of Bella's curse. She fell to the ground screaming before even realizing what was going on.

Meanwhile Bella and Harry both let out curses of frustration as Ablus's marble shield easily intercepted the killing curse. The old man would never know how close he had been to death.

Seeing that their attack had failed Bella swiftly hurled herself towards Harry with another wordless banisher charm. If the Order was able to separate them the battle could turn ugly in short order, especially with Dumbledore still alive.

Harry smiled in spite of himself as Bella rapidly picked herself up off the ground and moved to stand at his side. There was something strangely comforting at having the dark witch watch his back. She was bloody, thirsty, insane and perhaps the greatest sadist to have ever lived, but after all these years she was somehow predictable to him. Something to hold onto in this strange new world.

"Surrender Harry! We have you outnumbered ten to one!" Albus yelled as the Order slowly moved to encircle the pair.

"What would be the fun in that old man?" Bella taunted as she struck too quickly for the eye to follow, dropping an order member who had drawn too close with a wordless lung-bursting hex. "Besides," She added with a smirk as the Order member died nosily, "it looks more like nine to one from where I'm standing."

"I'm afraid Albus, that it is even less than that." A voice called out from the shadows of Hermione's house as Dholov stepped slowly into the light, his wand gleaming with a murderous purple light as he killed another Order member with a swift decapitation curse.

Before the head even hit the ground Harry and Bella were moving. Green lightning exploded down from the heavens at Harry's hissed call while Bella raised a sickly purple shield. Order shields flew into existence, but they was woefully unprepared for the sheer power of Harry. His lightning shattered their defenses with a sickening crash as the ancient magic of Slaazar himself tore through to wreak havoc on the people below.

Meanwhile, Harry hadn't waited to gage the effectiveness of his first attack as he lashed out again and again. Ethereal bolts of soul magic flew outward, easily phasing through Bella's Dark shield without damaging it.

Bella smiled with glee as she prepared to release her shield. The seven soul magic curses Harry had thrown in the last four seconds gave her exactly a three second window before his soul would be stable enough to renew the assault. Three seconds was more than enough time to make people scream. Besides, Harry didn't get to have all the fun. Bella thought with a smirk as she released the shield and hurled a lethal wave of raw sadomancy at the encircling Order.

Sheer chaos followed. The order members were a step above normal wizards. They possessed the courage and the will to fight when a normal member of society would have been cowering in a ball on the floor. But against Bellatrix Black courage was not enough. In her mind it really came down to the fundamental rule of life: if you torture something (not named Potter) enough it will scream. Once it screams it will break. And once it breaks the real fun can begin.

They screamed. Ten voices rising in a choir of agony as Bella held the curse firm, reveling in the suffering as more than half of the surviving Order members writhed in her grip. Her 'fun' was ended a moment later as Potter threw himself into her, carrying them both to the ground as a bolt of holy fire flew through the space she had occupied a moment before.

"Too bad the mudbloods not here to see this." Bella said with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows as Harry came to rest on top of her.

"Tragic." Harry drawled before wandlessly banishing himself straight up into the air. He shot into the sky, the raw power of his charm carrying him nearly twenty five feet high. Just as he reached the apex of his flight he wordlessly summoned Bella too him, laughing at the look of delighted glee that appeared on the dark witch's face when she realized his plan.

It was an insane tactic that the Weasly twins had taken to using just before their deaths. It required perfect coordination, timing, and an absolute trust in the other person. Affectionately known by the Order as 'Jacks' it consisted of the two participants alternating summoning each other at the apex of their ascent, creating a strange up-and-down combination that not only created an altitude advantage, but also made targeting them fiendishly difficult.

Harry was firing downward a split second after he summoned Bella, his wand rapidly spitting balls of liquid fire down against the Order. Below him the Order was in chaos as they tried to remember how to make a shield to protect against attacks from above, the standard _portego_ having long ago been optimized to only cover the fore. Three were too slow in recalling the _umbra _or _aegis _shields and disappeared underneath the balls of flame, leaving not even ashes behind.

Meanwhile, Bella flew past Harry, cackling madly as it became her turn to rein death and Harry's to shield against attacks from below. Taking quick note of the ethereal silver shield Harry had chosen Bella quickly struck, aiming not at the now-shielded Order, but the ground beneath their feet, using ancient necromantic, transfiguration to turn the ground into wickedly sharp bones.

The screams of the Order as nearly ten of their number were impaled was music to her ears. She savored the moment for a quarter of a second before summoning Harry who was less than a foot from ground.

Harry scowled at her as he shot back up while deflecting another bolt of holy fire from Dumbledore with a swiftly conjured silver shield, "Perhaps you could be a little quicker about summoning me next time Bella."

"Aww, but I thought you ickle Lions enjoyed a thrill." Bella shot back, grinning as he Harry flicked her off with his free hand even as he used his other one to bat away a lung-vanishing hex Tonks had sent upwards after them. Pausing only to summon Bella, Harry intensified his assault, knowing that it would only be a matter of time before Albus or Madeye would figure out a counter to their 'game' of jacks. The phoenix feather wand danced in his hand, blasting the reeling Order with every curse in his arsenal. Lightning leaped from the clouds, fire exploded from the ground, death itself tore through the air in sickly green bolts as Bella added her own voice to mayhem, mixing the killing curse and _Necran Demaritam_ with skill born of endless practice. It was deadly, it was beautiful.

Slowly Harry and Bella ceased their assault, casting quick arresting momentum charms as they drifted down to the ground to survey the fruits of their labors. Slowly, from out of the smoke and haze their firestorm had generated three battered figures stepped forward to meet them. Dumbledore, Moody, and surprisingly Tonks, all scorched but alive settled into dueling positions opposite of the pair, their faces grim, but determined.

Dumbledore took the fore, stepping forward into the eerie silence that now filled the clearing, "I'm sorry Harry, but it ends here. I cannot allow you to inflict your darkness on our world."

"I do what must Albus. War teaches you things don't have a luxury of being ignored. there is no light and no dark in magic, only means to end. They are two sides of the same coin old man. In magic there is only power Albus, power and pain. I did not come here looking for a fight, either to this place or this world. But I will not stand by a let injustice stand,. I will not let Sirius rot away, I will not let the corrupt ministry kill Hermione..."

"I could do it for you if you prefer..." Bella interjected with a helpful smile and a laugh as she watched Harry struggle against the oath in an attempt to stab her.

Turning away from Bella with a scowl Harry sighed as the headmaster began to speak, "Those are but steps on the path to hell Harry. We cannot disregard the greater good for our own selfish whims, you speak of justice, yet trade in pain..." Albus began, only to cut off with a curse as a rapid stream of killing curses shot at him from both Harry and Bella's wands.

"Don't. Tell. Me. About. The. Greater. Good!" Harry screamed, "I am the man you see before you for the greater good! I have given everything for it, and it is too much! I am sick and tired and done with the bloody fucking greater good!" Harry finished, nearly growling even as the words of his dream Hermione echoed in his mind mockingly: "_Our war that in the end destroyed us all had some purpose? When all is meaningless who can tell the means from the ends?"_

Tom must be laughing in his grave, I'm starting to sound like him. Harry thought in disgust as he tried to push away the feeling of _rightness_ that had flowed out in his tirade. No. Time to ponder that later, now was the time to do the only thing he seemed to be good for: fight.

Bella was one step ahead of him in that thought, lashing out at her niece with a rapid barrage of stabbing and impaling hexes. Tonks stumbled, but somehow managed to get her wand in position to block all but one of the spells, which drew a brief spurt of blood from her left leg.

With that the battle was joined as Moody and Dumbledore abandon Tonks to the nonexistent mercies of her aunt while they tried to gang up against Harry. He fought for his life as the two deadly duelers circled him with coordination and skill he had not seen since he left his old world behind. He smiled in spite of himself even as he dodged a near-perfect fire-ice combination attack from either side. The fire of battle flowed through his veins as he truly fought for the first time since he and Bella had sworn the oath truce. There was no time to think, no time to plan, only time to fight, and time to win.

He struck back with everything he had, dancing amidst their curses as he hurled green lightning and black orbs of necromantic death. The battle was a blur. His orb of souls exploding a half inch in front of Moody, caught just in time by Dumbledore. Moody's own heart bursting curse parried just so, deflected a quarter inch off course so that it now flew towards Dumbledore.

Their intricate dance was brought to a screeching halt a moment after Dumbledore easily blocked the heart bursting curse. Moody suddenly stopped, stumbled, and fell forward with a cry of agony as he remaining real leg was severed at the knee.

"That, was for Roiser." Dholov drawled with a self satisfied smirk as he surveyed the downed auror. "And this," he began as a killing curse glowed on the end of his wand, "Well, this is for me." He said with a smirk as the lethal green beam reached out for Moody.

The barest second before it would have made contact a crow appeared in its path, taking the curse to the chest and vanishing in a blast of magic. Scowling Dholov turned to glare at the headmaster, "You never could mind your own business old man." He spat before slowly prowling over to stand with Harry.

The pause during Dholov's banter had given Harry a moment to assess the battle. Tonks was on the ground, screaming under Bella's wand as the sadistic witch employed some unknown spell from her vast arsenal of sadomancy.

Moody was down for the count, and would need medical attention fast if he wanted to live with the amount of blood which was pouring out of his wounded leg. Only Dumbledore remained defiant, his pale blue robes grey from the smoke of the battlefield but otherwise unharmed.

"Bella!" Harry yelled, "Stop playing with Tonks and get over here!"

"Aww, does the ickle lion need the poor Bella's help with the big, bad, old man?" Bella drawled back as she casually stunned Tonks and began to walk over towards Harry who did not bother to dignify her taunting with a response.

Dumbledore eyed the proceedings with a desperate eye as he tried to find someway to get Moody out of the line of fire before taking on the three deadly opponents who were slowly encircling him. He would not be able to spare any energy to protect his old friend if this turned into the firefight it was promising to be.

Thinking quickly Albus struck, hurling a wide arc lava curse at Harry and Dholov even as he wandlessly created a portkey with his free hand. Grabbing the now enchanted boot Dumbledore banished it at the old auror too quickly for anyone to react, transporting the battered veteran safely to the hospital wing at Hogwarts.

"Hmm, it seems that the headmaster has taken away one of poor ickle Bella's toys. I guess she'll just have to find a new one." Bella said with a menacing smile directed at Albus as she watched Moody disappear.

Albus did not bother to respond as he silent cast a little known charm his brother had developed which granted him all-around vision. Even with his enhanced visual powers it was a nightmare keeping track of his three deadly adversaries as they circled him like a pack or wolves, waiting for a moment of weakness when they could strike.

They were an odd trio, his subconscious registered in morbid interest even as his conscious mind was busy trying to find a way to stay alive. Odd, but strangely familiar. Bellatrix on his right, her wand twirling in its mad dance of pain. Dholov to the left, slinking through shadows the man had somehow managed to find on a, clear, sunny day. Sometimes Dumbledore swore the death eater had to have lethifold heritage.

And then there was Harry in front of him, the boy, risen from the dead to make his life miserable stalked him with eerie grace and a dull grey glow built about his wand in a sure sign of the soul magic assault he was just waiting to unleash.

_Bella to the right, Dholov the left, and hateful emerald eyes beneath black hair in the middle. _Suddenly it made sense. Horrifying, perfect, sense. Albus thought with shock that rippled through his whole being. Bella, Dholov and a boy who led them. He had seen it before, so many years ago before that boy's eyes had turned red.

Harry could not have been a monster such as the one that stood before him now. He had enough faith in any counterpart of his that it would not have been permitted. The mistake with Tom Riddle had taught him that.

Tom Riddle. Devious, brilliant, manipulative, and apparently standing right before him in a body he must have stolen from the Boy-Who-Lived another world. Dumbledore thought in horror. His shock rendering him so dead to the world it was only by dumb luck he managed to drift out of the way of the decapitation hex Dholov hurled at him from behind.

The whistle of the deep-purple hex's passage snapped him back to reality as he swiftly spun his robes about to deflect the two other dark curses flying at him. His revelation would have to wait for latter. There was a battle to fight.

* * *

Across the field, ignored and forgotten by all the combatants, Hermione Granger cried tears of helpless rage as she watched her world shatter. Harry. Bella. He cared for her, cared for that murderous, pureblooded whore more than her! She watched with furious eyes as he saved her life, watched with ever deepening hatred as they bounced each other up and down in the sky in a clear show of trust. Trust the likes of which he had never granted her.

No, it was all too clear now. This was not her Harry. Her Harry loved her. She knew it. This, this _thing, _that looked for all the world like him was just a lie. Let Bella have him. She would do what she had been only days away from attempting before he had come into her life. As soon as she got free from this accursed body-bind she would prove that she was the smartest witch, not just of her generation. Oh, no. She would show them all. The wizard would who cast her aside, the false Harry how left her without a thought. She the simple mudblood Hermione Granger would do the impossible. She would breach the veil, she would raise the dead. She would have her real Harry back.


	17. Dangerous Misconceptions part 2

A/N: Thanks as usual to everyone who has read and **reviewed.**

A/N: Sorry this is a bit shorter than usual but it seemed like a good place to end it. Next chapter will be some of the introspection that people have been asking about.

Chapter 17: Dangerous Misconceptions: part 2

Rabastan watched the battle play out with morbid interest. The order of dark brethren, the proud death eaters who had once brought terror to world were imploding in on themselves without their rightful master to lead them. Lucius had his schemes, Dholov his illusions and Bella, in her treachery, that small, slip of an arch mage. Traitors all of them. Only he was loyal. Only he remembered the oath they all swore that night amidst the blazing flames of the first dark revel.

Rabastan was special, even amongst wizards. Cursed they had called him at Hogwarts, blessed within the private walls of the Lestrange Manor. No matter how one viewed his 'talent' it had shaped his outlook on life. The pureblood of the Lestranges was known to be especially unstable: the young age at which members of the ancient house underwent dark rituals meant that their effects were slowly and insidiously passed on to the next generation. They were not as far down the path of true darkness as the homicidal Blacks, but nonetheless the corruption of the dark magics had, by Rabastan's generation, grown strong enough to impart strange abilities.

Their rituals were ancient, passed down from Father to Son even as the patriarch of their line Diamen the Strange, that mad arch mage who challenged the power of Atlantis with his killing curse, did to his heir.

Ever since that day death had been the calling of the Lestranges. Each of the great pureblood houses bore a certain moniker, a title awarded to them for some distinguishing deed after their line had attained ancient status at fifty unbroken generations. The Blacks were the most Ancient and Noble, so called after Augustus Black seized his brief dominion over all of England. The Bones were the most Ancient and Powerful, named for the recently deceased patriarch of the family Marshall Bones whose army of undead had held near a quarter of England against all comers until a certain up-and-coming light wizard shattered his power. The Lestranges were known as the most Ancient and Damned. Rabastan's five times great grandfather had earned the title, laughing as he opened up a demonic portal in the midst of Paris.

Since then the moniker had held eerily true as generation after generation of insane Lestranges consorted with the darkest of powers and unleashed death upon the world. Rabstan was no exception. At the age of twelve he had nearly been expelled from Hogwarts for 'accidently' invoking a lesser imp in the middle of transfiguration. Only a capacious amount of money changing hands amongst the governors had saved him.

His parents had been both proud and horrified. The pureblood of Lestrange did not dishonor itself by being expelled from Hogwarts. Such a thing was unheard of. Restrain it they told him. Nurture the power in secret over the summer, safe behind the walls and wards of their ancient manor.

It had been torture to comply. The realm of underworld called to him like the suffering of others called to the Black sisters. Whispers, voices on the edge of his mind imparting terrible secrets that should never see the light of day. Whispers begging him to unleash them once more unto the world. They tormented him and elated him. He could feel their hunger. Feel their rage.

He knew he had been well along the path to madness when his Lord had found him. The blackest necromancy his Lord had undertaken had turned the once pathetic mortal who was Tom Riddle into something more. Something evil Rabastan could worship.

With a concrete object to hold his gift's attention the voices had waned, retreating into the depths of his subconsciousness as his 'gift' basked in the raw black magic power of his master. The dark revels that the other foolish death eaters saw only as entertainment to feed their perverse whims were something more to an enlightened one such as he.

They were dark pacts for those who chose to embrace them, offering untold dark magics in exchange for undying loyalty. He and Rudolphus had taken the offer in an instant. For the longest time he had thought Bella must have as well, but recent events clearly showed that to be nothing more than a clever ruse by the admittedly brilliant witch.

No, Dohlov and Bella might be content to follow this newcomer, but for him there could be replacement, no substitute for the being that waited just beyond the veil. There had to be someway to bring him back. To unleash the dark lord once more upon the mortal world Rabastan thought with a sigh as he prepared to apparate away from the battlefield, not caring who emerged victorious. They would all fall before his lord in time.

* * *

Dumbledore smiled as he fought, his twinkling blue eyes blue eyes filled with laughter. He would never admit it, and thanks to the destruction of a few ancient records, the public would never believe it, but the Dumbledore family had briefly flittered with darkness in the early 1300's. They had of course abandoned the grand experiment long before attaining ancient status, but from time to time remnants of their ritual would surface in the younger generations.

The twinkling eyes were thankfully all he had received from his families questionable past. It was in their blood to see: things, events, magic; whatever the whim of their ritual happened to decide. His poor brother had been cursed with the gift of seer-sight; he had been blessed with that of mage sight.

It had combined with his already formidable power to make him an unstoppable terror in his youth. Now the advantage was lessened, as he had finally reach an instinctual understanding and feel for magic that made the sight almost extraneous. Still, at times like this it was a marvel. Crackling bolts of yellow, green and violet death surged around him, leaving eerie, beautiful, trails of magical afterglow in their wakes. His own retorts burned like the sun, a pure white that dripped with holy power.

The battle was a blur of motion as he danced among the three wizards with speed that should have been impossible for one his age. The very earth seemed to rise up to defend him as he transfigured wandlessly with his free hand, sending creatures of earth and stone to even the desperate odds.

Harry had been bad enough. The young dark arch mage had tested the very limits of his power. Now, with the insane Bellatrix and Dholov at his side, there was no chance of victory: it was simply a matter of when he would fall. One step to slow, one shield to weak and it would all be over. Yet still he fought on. Maybe it was the bodies of his Order strewn across the once peaceful plain. Maybe it was the holy power he was drunk on, but he would not yield the field to this insolent child, dark lord or not.

Apparating back to give himself a moment to recover Albus snarled as he drew even deeper on ancient power he had unlocked through countless years of deepest study in the light magics. They came at him in a rush, Harry in the fore, Dholov to the side and Bella from above, covering the distance between herself and the ancient arch mage with great leaping bounds and mad laughter.

He let them come, waiting one endless second after another as they drew inevitability closer. Behind his back his free hand traced intricate runes he had long since learned by heart. _Elthis _for power, _Iman _for heart and _Nexor _for soul. The language of a long forgotten race of elves glowed a fiery white behind him as the unholy trio closed the last of the gap.

Dumbledore smiled as he finished the last rune. It was time to even the odds.

* * *

Harry smiled as the ancient blood of the Blacks he had unwillingly inherited surged through him at the prospect of battle. With Bella above and Dholov on the flank the old man didn't stand a chance. He had to know that; his hundreds of years of battle experience must have told the ancient arch mage to run, to flee before a force which clearly outmatched him.

And yet he stood there, stock still with that damned twinkle blazing in his eyes. _Maybe all those lemon drops finally rotted this Dumbledore's brain. _Harry thought absently as his wand spat a low killing curse timed to coincide perfectly with Bella releasing one at the top of her leap. The two extreme angles would make th curses almost impossible to block at this range. A standard head to feet transfigured shield required an even half a second to cast and the curse would close the distance in less than a quarter.

The old man would have to dodge, and when he did Dholov would be waiting, ready to attack the flank and force the old man to turn his back on Bella and Harry. It was an hunting tactic the aurors had originally developed to kill trolls, whose massive stone shields did not quite reach far enough to be able to block both curses. Once they turned their back and lost the protection of their enchanted shields the hulking creatures were easy prey.

The tactic had been seized by the death eaters and translated into a deadly weapon against lone wizards sent to wreck havoc on the flanks of the dark army. Three to one came to virtually guarantee a kill, even if the lone wizard was far stronger than his attackers.

It should have worked perfectly. The timing, the angle, everything was textbook, but Dumbledore had not lived as long as he did by allowing events to take their normal course. The ancient arch mage dodged at the last moment, deftly stepping to the side and slamming his rune encrusted fist down into the earth. A ripple of power spilled out, seeming to distort reality for an instant before it collapsed back in on the old man with a blinding flash of light.

When the light died down there stood not one, but two Dumbledores, wands barred and ready for battle.

Even Bella was given pause as the three dark wizards slowly regrouped to stand across from the twin Dumbledores. _What the bloody hell did he just do? _Harry sent in rapid death eater battle talk to Bella and Dholov, not caring if the old man could understand their conversation.

_No idea. Its not an illusion. _Dholov shot back as he warily tried to slink around the flank of the twin headmasters. He was rewarded for his efforts a moment latter with a crackling bolt of holy magic that he barely dodged in time to keep his head.

_Ideas? _Bella sent, her right hand signing even as her left twirled her wand madly in anticipation of the coming fight.

"You're the snake Bella dear, that's your department." Harry said out loud, not able to find the right hand signs to appropriately mock the dark witch.

"Blackfire plains Potter." Bella drawled back with a smirk.

"In case it has escaped your mind Bella this you have no idea how to pull off the Hermione's critical part of that little brawl." Harry shot back as he stabbed his wand forward to immolate a pair of small bears the right-most Dumbledore had conjured to attack them.

"That's why I'll play you and you can stand in for that disgusting mudblood of yours." Bella snapped back as she cheerfully parried a quick barrage of battle transfiguration from the left Dumbledore.

"I don't think you have the stones to play me Bella." Harry shot back even as his mind whirled with memories of the perhaps the greatest light sided victory of the war.

"You'd be surprised Harry." Bella drawled before suddenly turning serious. "Blackfire, on my mark!"

"Aye Bella." Harry said softly as he rolled underneath twin Nova hexes which shattered the ground he had occupied a moment before. "Though I have to say that might explain what Avery saw in you, always a little queer that one."

"Shut up and do something productive and murderous Harry!" Bella snapped as she slowly allowed the twin headmasters' fire to drive her away from Harry to the left. Meanwhile Harry and Dholov circled right, presenting as broad a front as possible to the two Dumbledores.

_Improvise. _Harry signed to Dholov quickly as he watched Bella prepare to begin the attack. _And don't die. _He added as an after thought just as Bella struck. The mad witch giggled insanely as she dodged a pair of fire spells only to snap her wand forward with blinding speed in the next instant and hurl twin _Necran Demaritam_ curses at the headmasters.

The headmasters instantly snapped the counter, dissipating the clouds in the blink of an eye. It wasn't fast enough. Harry struck the barest instant before the headmaster, hurling a spell his Hermione had developed which, to this day, still made his head hurt to figure out the mechanics.

According to her explanation the _Necran Demaritam curse_ actually worked by subtly breeching the barrier between worlds, allow tiny, mirco-pieces of the underworld to leak through. The spell she had devised to enhance the effects worked in an incredibly counterintuitive fashion. It actually degenerated the lingering spell matrix of the curse by specifically targeting the stabilizers which prevented the spell from spirally out of control and creating a full scale rift between worlds. Her spell was a work of art as it initiated a rapid decay of the stabilizers to enhance the amount of netherworld energy while at the same time using something she had called an exponentially scaled, caster specific, non-zero additive K coefficient of inversion pressure to prevent a complete collapse. Admittedly, he had stopped paying attention around that point, but her results spoke for themselves.

The enhancement kept the spell at its optimum potency, a three to four fold increase over the normal version and, more importantly, rendered useless the counter spell, which worked by adding a very specific amount of real world matter to close to the gaps where the underworld came through. In theory the counter spell could be modified to fight the optimized version, but since no one but Harry and Hermione actually knew what she had done to the spell such research had never been undertaken even in his old world.

The Dumbledores' late counter stood no chance as it fizzled harmless against the sinister black cloud which rapidly swept forward towards them. Harry grinned, it was too late to apparate. There was no escape.

One of the headmasters let out an ear piercing shriek as the dark cloud overtook him, screaming as the underworld tore into his very essence. Strangely the other Dumbledore was unmoved as it calmly continued to fight in the midst of the cloud.

"It's a Doppleganger Potter!" Bella yelled out in warning even as she was hurled backwards by the unexpected attack. Angry red burns covered her right arm as the Doppleganger's fireball caught her unaware. Rolling to her feet in spite of the injury Bella struck back, hurling blasting hexes in an endless stream at the transfigured master piece.

She was impressed in spite of herself. Dopplegangers were near legendary constructs of earth that temporarily were animated by a spark from the casters soul and magic. A light side equivalent to the Horocrux, they did not make the caster immortal, but provided for formidable allies in battle. Made from elemental earth they were incredibly hard to destroy as the slew of spells designed to be used against flesh and blood opponents were simply useless.

The Doppleganger easily dodged her attack, fighting as well as its sire. In a lightning fast move it tired to aid the real headmaster, throwing counter spell after counter spell against the black cloud. The dark cloud simply ate them all, taking in the pulses of white light with no visible effect.

The Doppleganger was forced to abandon its efforts a moment latter as Harry joined the fray, his phoenix feather and spitting bludgeoning and blasting curses. It raised a golden shield with an absent gesture of its hand, deflecting the assault with a deafening 'gong' as it pondered how to free its master while striking back savagely with a transfigured horde of killer bees.

Bees met a wall of fire from Harry and died with a short whimper as he pressed his assault. Lightning lashed out at the golden shield and acid exploded up from a gap beneath its feet as Harry threw everything he had at the construct. The constructs shield wavered, flickered, and then collapsed at the fifth lightning strike. Before the sixth could fall it was gone, apparating near soundless across the battle field to take position on a small ridge a quarter mile away.

From their it spread its hand and pointed to the heavens, silencing the lightning with one gesture and brining down a howling gale with another. The icy winds swept forward towards the trio, freezing everything solid as they bore down. The gale was met an inch from Harry's face by a hastily erected flame shield that both he and Bella frantically threw their strength behind.

Inch by inch they advanced against the wind, slowly using their superior power to force the Doppleganger's spell back into the heavens. _I hold. You kill. _Harry signed rapidly to Bella as he braced himself to fight the full force of the wind by himself. Bella grinned at the signal. Destroying was so much more fun than shielding.

Employing the same bounding spell she had used earlier to approach Dumbledore Bella shot into the air high above the mystic battle below. A wicked grin entered her eyes as she hurled the dagger Harry had given her in one smooth motion. The Doppleganger ignored the attack, knowing that a mere dagger was more a distraction from the spell battle in front of him than a real threat.

The moment it struck Bella sent a short pulse of magic to follow, triggering the portkey embedded within. "Catch!" Bella screamed down to Harry as the shocked Doppleganger materialized right in between its own spell and Harry's shield of fire, suffering the worst effects of both. The Doppleganger began thrash frantically as it started to slowly degrade in the face of the dual assault.

"A...little...more...warning next time Bella!" Harry manage to grunt out as he struggled to hold firm in the face of the writhing construct.

"I thought you lions enjoyed being spontaneous Turning into a careful snake after all these years?." Bella drawled from her position.

"I'll see how you feel next time I throw a pissed off elemental copy of the headmaster straight at you without warning." Harry shot back as he relentless pushed the flame shield against the construct.

"I didn't want to play with it. It doesn't scream." Bella said with a pout as she landed next to Harry, "Figured I'd give it to someone without the taste to appreciate the lack."

"Your reputation is going to suffer for this Bella."

"Awww, is ickle Potter sad that Bella might have gotten him hurt? Is he gonna tell all his friends that she's a baaad witch?" Bella drawled, capping the last sentence with an insane giggle as she hurled her own power against the construct and blew its right arm off at the shoulder.

"Hardly." Harry shot back with a grin as he finally finished off the Doppleganger with a well placed blasting hex to the throat, "I'll tell them that is not true you can make a rock scream."

Bella's angry defense of her ability to do just that was cut off as Dholov loudly cleared his throat behind the pair. Spinning they were shocked to find the shadowy death eater bleeding from a score of wounds scattered across his body.

"What the hell happened to you?" Harry demanded.

"Dumbledore happened. Whatever the hell you two did to that spell disrupted the stability enough that it just winked out a few minutes ago. I held him off for a while, but that old man packs a punch." Dholov finished with a groan as he sat down heavily on the charred grass next to the body of the Doppleganger.

"Did he flee?" Harry asked in concern, his eyes rapidly scanning the surrounding area for some sign of the headmaster.

'Of course he did you idiot." Bella snapped. "Even that insane headmaster of your is not quite so batty as to pause and wait for us to have a tea party before attacking when are backs are turned."

"He's gone." Dholov said, ignoring Bella's ranting which had gradually trailed off into nothing.

"Dammit! That man has nine lives!" Harry swore in frustration.

"Fate favors idiots and the insane." Bella said with a considering look at Harry, "Though I suppose its nice to see the second part of that for a change."

"Seen a mirror recently Bella?" Harry shot back has he pointed his wand at Dholov and perpared to heal the numerous injuries which dotted the man's body.

"Put that away Potter, you heal like a drunken three year old with needle, thread, a mallet and no real idea what to do with them.' Bella drawled as she instead pulled her wand out and began expertly closing the numerous wounds.

"As if your one to talk. Remind me again why Rosier walked with a rather odd gait for the last three years of his life?"

"That would be because the mudblood turned his ligaments into jello."

"And...?" Harry prompted, too caught up in enjoying the story to bother to correct Bella for her use of the word 'mudblood.'

"Wasn't that enough?" She hedged as Dholov began to subtly sneak out of the arc of her wand.

"Well, probably: but you certainly didn't help things when you set him on fire."

"It seemed like a good idea at the time." Bella defended before grunting in frustration as she noticed Dholov was nowhere to be found.


	18. Hurt Me

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed up to this point, you guys keep me motivated to write this story.

A/N: Feed back on this chapter would be hugely appricated as I have never even written anything remotely like it. I hope you guys enjoy.

A/N: for those of you who take offense at things of the M rated variety please heed the warning in the latter part of this chapter. If anyone thinks said scene is too much for (which I do not believe it is) then please PM and I will remove it immediately to post on some other sight. One final note on this subject: this is a **story** and is not a reflection of the authors views of real life and in fact reflects actions which would disgust him were they actually to happen. Please remember that violent at disturbing things are to be enjoyed in a literary fashion and not to be condoned in anyway in real life. Normally I would assume people know this, but with some of the recent events in the news I figured it was better to be safe and state it directly. Thank you.

**Hurt Me**

Hell, Narcissa decided as she absently traced her four thousand three hundred and thirty second protection rune into the unyielding dirt, was vastly overrated. Sure, it had been exciting in those first few desperate moments as the demonic hordes had rushed to claim her blackened soul, but, after they realized her vast knowledge or runes left them a few thousand screams short of eternal pain, they went in search of softer targets. Well, almost all of them went in search. There was this pesky arch demon who seemed fascinated with her. It had been flattering really, for the first two thousand runes. After that the joys of having a twenty foot tall, goat-headed, snake-tailed demon try to convince her to come out a play wore just a little bit thin.

If it had been a demon just a hair weaker she would have chanced coming out of the circle, runes blazing with the dark magic that was her heritage. Unfortunately the thing in front of her was just big, powerful and stupid enough not to die before the rest of the demonic horde realized her circle of protection was down.

She was far stronger than any lone demon, no question about it, but she had expended the last of the truly mass destruction runes that she would need to buy herself the nearly full minute it took to trace her circle into the ground if the demon horde came back to play before she could find a portal.

Still, she was a Black, and even if she wasn''t as crazy as her sadly deceased sister, enough was enough, it was time to go. Besides, her dress was really starting to smell from the blood her thrice damned cousin had managed to draw.

Drawing herself up to her full height she carefully curled her small hands around a trio of cold iron wrought runes. Runes were wonderfully unlike normal magic in that they didn''t really give a damn about the relative dark or light inclinations of the caster, only the material they were made out of.

The three cold iron runes held holy magic the likes of which would have burnt her blacked soul to ashes had she actually dared to invoke it with her wand. Normally she looked down upon such magics, and had even been considering removing them from her stash on principal. Luckily a Pansy had stuck her obnoxious head through the fire at just that moment. She''d have to thank the stupid little girl, demons hated the holy magic even more than she did.

Kill. The word echoed through her head accompanied by a delicious surge of dark magic. Ah the true blood of the Blacks. It was fortunate that she and Bella had found a way in their third year to prevent their marriage contracts from exchanging their gift for that of their husband''s family. It was an old tradition that ensured the ritual magic of each line was passed down, pure and untainted. It was one of the main reasons that marriage with mudbloods had originally been so despised. The filthy little creatures did not have enough dark magic in their veins for the ritual to seize onto and change. They would set the proud progression of a blood line back centuries.

Still, blasphemous as it was neither sister had been willing to loose the fire which made them who they were. She had, of course, played the deception of no longer being a Black far better than poor Bella. But, to be fair, her sister had gotten a far greater share of the gift. Bloodlust warmed her. It consumed Bella.

It was a pity that Draco had turned out to be such a disappointment, inheriting none of the Black blood''s savagery or the Malfoy''s cunning. It had made her wonder if there was a good reason that ancient lines were not actually mixed. Still, it was worth it. She was, after all, a creature wholly dedicated to herself.

Lucius trusted her, adored her in fact. In truth that suited her just fine. She found the elder Malfoy to be a fine embodiment of his blood lines better traits, and their alliance had been long and profitable. Still, if push came to shove...

Three seconds till the circle falls. She noted absently as she braced her feet against the blacklash that was coming. Two...one...""Palda!"" She yelled the instant the circle fell, unleashing three blinding beams of golden light directly into the chest of the arch demon.

It fell to the ground, doing her neither the favor of dying quickly nor quietly. Its earthshattering roar shook the dull, red, underworld sky and was certain to have alerted Merlin only knows how many lesser demons. Amidst all the unholy howling the thing was still trying to right itself when she struck again, thrusting her wand forward and unleashing a massive silver spear which pinned the struggling demon to the ground.

Narcissia didn''t waste the time to watch the thing die as she forced herself to run in a most unlady-like manner across the blasted ground to the distant light of a portal. She hoped that it was one of the few that led back to the mortal world and not simply one that would take her deeper into hell. Still, it was worth the risk.

Her hopes were rewarded a moment latter as she noticed the glittering strands of golden magic that wrapped themselves across the entrance to the gate. A little gift to the demons for their idiotic decision to make war against the angelic hosts, the golden strands of holy magic would kill any demon who tried to cross them. Only mortals could safely move the restraints, albeit with great effort, which is what they did whenever they summoned a demon.

This time she didn''t have to worry about that as she simply charged headlong at the gate, ignoring the howls of lesser demons that drew ever closer behind her. Three more quick steps and she was at the gate, leaping forward even as her blood demanded she turn and do battle, rip apart as many of the enemy as she could. She ignored the thought easily, reminding the fire that raged within her that she was a Black, not a Lestrange. There would be another day for death, she placted herself with a contented smile as she fell through the gate back to the mortal world. Another day to take revenge on that damned cousin of hers.

* * *

Harry stared out listlessly out the window of Hermione's bedroom window, trying to understand when things had gone so wrong. Hermione had disappeared when he sought her out after the battle and Dolohov had still not retruned, leaving him alone in the Hermione's house with Bella. It was really the last place he wanted to be, but with the treachery of the Malfoy patriarch and the open war he seemed to be engaged in with the Order it was really their only option.

Falling through the portal had seemed like a blessing, a second chance to forget the horrors of his world, to leave the war behind, but the promise had faded with every passing day. He had blamed Tom at first when things began to go wrong. It had to have been the Dark Lord instead of Dumbledore who sent them here. Why else would the aurors attack him? Why else would the ministry imprison his godfather in a world that was supposed to be his chance at setting things right?

There was no blaming the Dark Lord for the battle today. He had slaughtered the Order without a second thought, fighting back to back with Bella and Dolohov like some Death Eater. Maybe the world was still to blame, maybe it was Tom's spirit wrecking its vengeance from the beyond the grave, but he didn't think so.

This world for all its faults was a world at peace. A world that, despite its corruption held nowhere near the horrors of the one he had fled. The violence and death that seemed to dog his every step were of his own making.

He couldn't escape what the war had made him. The thought should have chilled him, should have left him searching for a solution, some way to purge the darkness from his soul. There was no second chance here; there was no second chance anywhere: not that he really wanted one if he was honest with himself. All the pain, the death and the hatred were a part of him now, he would no more give it up then his younger self would have sacrificed the joy and hope that marked his school years.

Bella had been right back at the manor, though for all the wrong reasons. She thought it was merely that the people of this world were different. That they could not equal their old counterparts. The people were different, but that wouldn't have mattered if he had fallen through the portal ten years earlier. Before his soul was destroyed by the dark arts; before his mind was twisted and embittered by the endless years of war. That Harry could have adapted to the differences, could have at least befriended the hapless wizards who populated this world.

That pleasure was denied to him. They felt so childlike, so innocent. He wasn't sure if he envied or pitied them for it. Which ever one he felt, it served to effectively kill any real chance of interaction with the general populace.

He had known the risks when he picked up the first book of dark arts in spite of the headmaster's warning. The change had been gradual, almost too subtle to notice as unforgivable after unforgivable chipped away at his soul. The first killing curse, powered more by desperate rage than any real hatred had barely felled his school boy rival, and left him sick for days. Now he could kill a giant from a quarter mile away without even noticing the storm of black magic and hatred that rushed outward to poison his veins.

Somehow he thought he would be different. That he, golden boy and beloved child of the light side would actually be able to escape the consequences of his actions. Arrogance or innocence; he wasn't sure witch. Either way it was his downfall. There was no going back now. No one had ever found a way to repair the damage black magics wrought upon the soul.

Not that many tried. Most reveled in the damage like Bella or were put down like rabid dogs by the wizard world as they raged out of control. Was that really the choice? Murder or madman? _You must become the flame. _Hermione, his Hermione's words echoing mockingly through his mind for the thousandth time.

What did she mean? Did she expect him to become the very thing that they had fought for ten years? That she had died to destroy? _Was that really why she died? To purge darkness from the world? _A voice whispered in his mind. _Was it really for the light? She knew what you were. She knew your soul was as rotten as Tom's. Hell, hers wasn't far behind...Admit it Potter, she died for you. She cut her eyes and bled away her soul for _you. Darkness, light. What a lie. Their great war, their final struggle had nothing to do with relative degree of soul damage a particular group of wizards may or may not have had. It was one desperate force against the other. Individuals clinging together, willing to do anything to ensure their side survived,

The truth he hadn't bothered acknowledging for years. Still what did it mean in the end? _You must become the flame_. Did she know what she was asking? Of course not. She couldn't feel. Hell, she was dead! A ghost, nothing more than a grief stricken figment of his mind whispering in his dreams.

_We did what we had to_. His own words to Bella. _Excuses. Is that all I really have to fall back on now? Why not take it? Why not give up this pretense? Join Bella in a mad dance of madness and death across the face of this pathetic world, feel the rush of that power blighted Black blood pumping through my veins...NO! I am not her! I fought a war, I killed and tortured to never be like her!_

More lies. He killed for vengeance, tortured to hurt her like she hurt him. Bella. His enemy, no his nemesis: prophecy be damned. He had thought he could fight fire with fire. Too late . Too late he realized there was nothing to him anymore but the flame...

"Thinking Potter? I'm impressed." Bella's voiced purred, cutting across his musings as he spun to face the mad witch, his wand instinctively springing into his hand as he leveled it at her face. She merely arched an eyebrow in response before wandlessly conjuring a chair of bones and plopping down in it next to him.

"Aye Bella" He answered back wearily as he returned his wand to its holster and resumed staring out the window.

"Must be tough not having the mudblood around here to do it for you." Bella drawled, internally annoyed at his lacking response. Her Potter was not weary! He burned with the ancient bloods of the Black family! To see him sitting there staring at the rain like some love sick muggle poet was an insult to the family.

"She was more of a conscience than a brain, not that you'd know anything about that." Harry shot back with anger simmering just bellow the surface of his voice.

"Looked to me more like she was a pair of legs and some tits the last time I saw you two together." Bella purred suggestively, eager to get into any sort of fight at all. The battle had roused her bloodlust and Dumbledore escaping had left her feeling quite unsatisfied.

Harry snarled as he turned away from the window to face her, the oath visibly restraining him from causing bodily harm to the grinning witch, "As you are so quick to remind me _that _is not my Hermione. Besides, at least I got some use out the situation. Unless you and Rudolphus just got a little too kinky right before I woke up it looks like you came away empty handed..." Harry finished with a leer as he slowly calmed down at the look of black rage that settled on Bella's features.

She tried to lunge at him, wanting the satisfaction of tearing into him with her bare hands, pureblood pride be damned, but the oath diverted her path, sending her sprawling into one of the countless book cases which dotted the room.

Groaning from underneath a pile of twenty tombs that seemed to each weigh at least a stone Bella muttered, "I really hate this oath." Harry simply smirked as he watched her extract herself from the collapse with a brief burst of wandless magic.

Slowly moving to once again stand next to Harry Bella tilted her head slightly as she regarded him intensely, "I don't suppose you'd consider revoking it Harry?"

"And why on earth would I want to do that Bella?" Harry taunted back, his voice an eerie imitation of her own sing-song mocking.

"Oh come down off your high horse Potter! You want to hurt me as badly as I want to hurt you! Its not like it matters anyways, neither of us give a damn about anyone on in this god forsaken world! There is nothing for us here Potter, no friends, no allies. We're the only thing worth bothering with."

"I'm touched by your esteem Bella, though Dumbledore might beg to differ and Dolohov might take offense where ever he is hiding." Harry shot back, outwardly keeping his calm in the face of the seething witch.

"Bugger Dumbledore and Dolohov!" Bella snarled, "a self righteous old man and a slippery shadow. They are nothing compared to us! The noble blood of the most ancient and noble house of Black doesn't rage in their veins! I don't want to fight them! Their screams are nothing, a pale echoing of ghosts from our world who I can't reach!"

"I don't think your adequately equipped to do that to either of those men, but I'll let them know the next time you are around to watch our for their virtue." Harry quipped back, watching with pleasure as the oath once again restrained Bella as she tried to inflict what was no doubt grievous bodily injury on his person.

It took her several long moments to clam down enough to settle for shooting him a death glare and snarling, "Your warning would have been better served to one of the older red-haired brats in regards to McNair."

Now it was Harry's turn to struggle vainly against the oath as he tried to close his hands around Bella's throat. They had never actually figured out what had happened to Charley after he disappeared from Romania during a running battle with the death eaters in the early days of the war. Bella was likely as not lying, but still...

Seeing his response Bella smiled wickedly and let loose another mad cackle before fixing Harry with a burning stare, "Break the oath Potter! Hurt me!" Bella screamed as she watched him struggle, licking her lips with pleasure as she watched the sheer violence contained within her Harry. He was close, so close to doing it. She could taste the magic welling in the air, feel the potential for bloodshed that hung heavy about the room. Still, the bloody lion would not give in! She needed this. Needed the pain. His, hers, it didn't matter someone had to suffer NOW!

He snarled as he tired to ignore her siren's call. It was tempting. Too tempting. The battle and the disappearance of this world's Hermione afterwards had left him frustrated and angry. The Black blood in his veins was not helping matters as it snarled and twisted, sensing the opportunity to unleash violence on the world.

_Why not? Why not just give in? _It wasn't for anyone in this world that he resisted, Bella was right about that. _Perhaps it was Bella herself? No. No! Impossible. _Harry thought frantically even as all too recent memories of standing back to back with the insane witch flashed through his mind. Was he really ready to loose Bella at his side just for a chance to hurt her? _Lose her? I'd push her off a bloody cliff into the pits of eternal d blaamnation! What am I waiting for? Hurt her. It sounded so wonderful. Something familiar in this world gone mad. He wouldn't have to worry about his brawl with the Order. Wouldn't have to go down to the field and look at the faces of former friends he had murdered. No with Bella it was simple. Hate. Pain. Battle. No complications, no illusions. Only enemies._

"I Harry James Potter petition Bellatrix Black to break the oath which binds us." He growled, a hungry gleam in his eyes.

"I Bellatrix Black grant the petition. _Crucio!" _Bella said in one breath, drawing her wand and casting too quick for the eye to follow. Harry merely smirked as the red beam of pain hurtled towards him. At the last second he threw himself aside, allowing the curse to slam harmless into a book case.

Bella's wand was already on him, tracking his leftward dodge from a sudden _Crucio _with ease born of long practice. Black fire streamed out from her wand to track Harry's moving form as she hurled black magic designed to flay his soul to pieces. Harry was ready for it as he calmly assumed his favored dueling stance and conjuring a battered silver shield to absorb the tendrils. The black magic tore into the shield with an almost feral hungry, but the silver held strong, absorbing the death magic easily.

The instant the tendrils faded from existence Harry was moving, hurling the shield straight at Bella as a cover for the three bolts of soul magic he silently cast in its wake. Bella's wand snapped out in response, banishing the shield straight back at Harry even as her own soul magic rose up to counter his. The grey bolts locked and grappled in the center of the room straining against each other even as the two duelists moved on, their wands a blur of motion as long repressed rage fueled their dark arsenals.

Piercing curses designed to stop a raging dragon dead at fifty paces stitched across the room, destroying priceless volumes as Bella cast with reckless abandon. Harry twisted and turned, somehow dodging the spells which seemed to follow his every movement. Landing on the floor he wandlessly banished himself towards the ceiling, striking back even as he reached the apex of his ascent. The Hammer of Naga surged from his wand in a bolt of pure energy as Harry kicked off the ceiling and dove straight at Bella.

She let him come, only dodging bolt the spell and his missile-like approach at the last second. The inhuman spell tore a gaping hole in the floor which Harry passed straight through, only to levitate himself at the last moment. Seizing his brief moment of advantage as Bella was forced to turn to track his movements Harry lashed out once again, turning the entire floor above him into razor sharp bones.

Bella let out a howl of mixed pleasure and pain as she a fraction of a second too slow in banishing herself up to avoid the attack. Bleeding from her right leg the mad witch hurled herself downward to meet Harry, banishing blood from her wound in front of her. The drops of blood turned black as they unerringly sought Harry whose eyes widened at the ancient Summerian vengeance ritual Bella had invoked. Designed to be cast behind the safety of ancestral wards the spell sought out a specific individual who had shed the casters blood and reanimated the spilled liquid into deadly poison missiles.

Not bothering to waste time wondering if Bella even knew the consiquences of a miscast, Harry's wand moved in a harsh cross-like motion as he enacted one of the few light-based protection spells that would still respond to his call. The shimmering blue ward intercepted the black blood with a sizzling hiss which burned away both the blood and the shield.

Still, the downward swipe of the cross had left Harry out of position for the two high flicks needed to conjure a block of lead to counter a bizarre dark piercing curse which for reasons not even its creator could explain went through just about everything else. The curse hit him hard in the left shoulder, sending him to the carpeted floor of the living with a soft 'thud.' Not bothering to stand Harry quickly pointed his wand at the rapidly forming pool of blood in a bid to regain the advantage.

"_Invocare Bane!" _He shouted, his transfiguration skills not quite good enough to pull off the ancient blood-based spell without the aid of the incantation. The spell had first been developed by accident in ancient Egypt when an blood magic researcher had been playing with equations in an attempt to turn the blood of the Pharos enemies into snakes. Deemed useless as it would not work within the body or in the absence of a high concentration of snake venom already present in the blood, the spell had been dutifully placed in the archives and forgotten. Five thousand years latter Harry had found the book while battling death eaters for control of an ancient ritual sight.

Seeing the potential of the spell due to his own unique history he had turned to Hermione too modify it slightly. Working with the allegorical basis of the spell she had altered it subtly from snake to Basilisk by keying it specifically to the poison which still lingered in his blood. He rarely got a chance to use the spell, since the deadly gaze did not discriminate between friends and enemies, but with only Bella in the house this seemed like a perfect opportunity.

The blood responded to his spell with startling speed, an advantage of working with what was supposed to originally be a battle transfiguration spell, and coalesced into a five foot black snake with gleaming yellow eyes.

Bella was just quick enough to avert her gaze, having seen Harry invoke the spell once before in the first battle of London. Fighting blind, the witch lashed out at the snake, trying to kill the creature before Harry could use her impaired vision to finish the fight.

A wall of fire leaped from her wand, followed by a gust of wind which fanned it to engulf the entire side of the room where Harry lay. Beneath the cover of the spell she pointed her wand behind her back and transfigured the air in the path of the fire wave into gasoline vapors which exploded with deafening force.

The Basilisk let out one pitiful cry before it was consumed by the fire while Harry merely flicked his wrist to protect himself from the explosion with a combination pressure equalization and flame freezing charm.

Regaining his feet he circled left as he tried to get a clean shot at Bella's wand arm. The witch would not allow it as she circled right back with him, ignoring the flame and destruction which filled the room. Spells flickered in and out between, striking and parrying like things alive as they followed their caster's will to destroy the other.

Bella smiled and laughed as she fought amongst the flames. This was what she had been missing with Lucius. The hatred, the desperate intensity and rage that shimmered in the very air between them. She loved it. She wanted more. Needed more. The blood letting had been incredible, both his and hers. She needed more: more pain more hate. The blood of the Blacks sang in her veins, feeding her power, reenforcing her blood lust as she charged towards Harry, wand blazing in her lefthand even as her right pulled out his knife.

He met her halfway, wand in one hand, her dagger in the other. Blade clashed on blade, wand parried wand as both charged their wands with fiery sadomancy energies. He swept her feet out from under her. She pulled him down with her as she kicked out to knock his legs out from under him. On the ground now they grappled, feet, fists, daggers and wands clashing as each desperately sought an advantage the other was far too practiced to ever give. Back and forth they rolled, blasts of unfocused magic tearing through the room as their subconscious minds lashed out at each other in blinding rage.

Even as he dodged a half seen, half felt knife blow from Bella, Harry smiled: this was what he needed. So simple, so pure. Fight, fight, fight. It was all he was good for anyways. Still, the blood of the Blacks sung in him, it wanted more; he wanted more. He didn't want to kill her anymore. He couldn't imagine giving this up it would tear a hole though his life and leave a void in its place. For ten years he had hunted her and fought the Dark Lord and his armies. The Dark Lord and his armies were gone only she was left. There was no denying it know, he was a creature of war; and Bella was the only thing left for him to truly fight. He didn't know why now he was finally willing to acknowledge it, to listen to the voice of his old Hermione from beyond the grave. Maybe it was the latest round of black magic had finally driven him mad. Maybe the death of the Order had just pushed him past the point of denial. Whatever it was he didn't want to kill her anymore, he just wanted to hurt her: badly, and forever.

Pinning her arm, he knocked away her wand even as she scored a deep gouge across his chest with his dagger in return. Ignoring the blood he raked his dagger across her knife hand, making her drop it with and involuntary flinch of her muscles. Still, Bella used his brief over extension to strike back, knocking his wand away with her now-free hand as she jabbed into is nerve savagely. Wandlessly banishing him off her, she lunged for the knife once again, wanting to shed his blood.

They circled each other slowly, wands forgotten as each clutched the weapons-turned portkey they had received from the other. At the exact same moment they both activated them appearing together in a jumble of limbs as they slammed into the floor hard knives pressed to each others throats.

For a long moment they just stared at each other, eyes locked in smoldering hatred. Before Bella scowled up at him, "Stalemate."

"Aye" Harry agreed with a sigh as he slightly increased the pressure against Bella's throat, wincing as she returned the favor.

"I want more Potter." Bella almost purred as she pressed the knife harder, drawing blood and moaning in pleasure as he did the same.

"And how do you suppose we go about the Bella dear?" Harry mocked, "You are, of course welcome to stand down long enough for us to untangle. I might even do the same."

"Do try to remember which one of us is the cunning snake and which the idiotic lion Potter." Bella shot back as she absently searched for some way out of the deadlock. Finding none she sighed deeply as she locked her violet eyes with his emerald ones, "Dammit Potter, how am I supposed to hurt you like this"

"You do have a knife pressed to my throat oh cunning snake, I'm sure you can figure something out." Harry drawled as he once again increased the pressure on the dagger to prove his point.

"I'm less than attached to leaving this world just yet." Bella countered, "Though if you're in a hurry to see that emotionless mudblood bitch of yours again I'm sure I could give you a hand."

Harry didn't bother to respond as he instead tried to find someway out of this deadlock. He shared Bella's sentiment. He wanted more, he wanted to hurt her. The pounding of the black blood in his veins had not subsided, it demanded pain.

Still, his knife hand was stuck, his legs weren't in position to do any damage and even his teeth were held at bay. There had to be someway..._Yes. Of course. Crude, disgusting, but for Bella, I can manage. _Harry though with a feral smile which brought an unconscious shiver of desire from Bella at the pain it promised. Raising his free hand Harry gather his magics for a long moment as he carefully directed it to do his will. Releasing the magics a moment latter he smirked at the gasp of outrage that sprang from Bella as both of their clothes vanished in the blink of an eye.

Recovering quickly the dark witch scowled up at him, "If your planning to distract me with your impressive prowess Potter you'd best try an engorgement charm first."

"We shall see Bella." Harry all but hissed as he shifted slightly on top of her. Bella seized the moment of his slight distraction to release the spell she had been building wandlessly for several moments, vanishing his dagger in the blink of an eye. Pressing her own dagger forward viciously Bella reversed their position as she now was sprawled on top of him.

"I'm not quite so easy Potter." She snarled as she pressed the dagger down against his throat, keeping her wandless magic charged to prevent him from duplicating her earlier vanishing trick.

"A man has to try," Harry countered, still smirking despite her superior position. Their struggle had destroyed the anti-appriation wards, so if she tried to kill him he'd be able to run. Still, he held off, unable to deny the pounding of his black blood that demanded he stay, to fight or fuck he wasn't sure witch, or even if it cared, if he cared. There was a bloodlust boiling through the air that seemed to have suspended rational thought in the room, not that there ever was much with Bella present. It seemed perfectly natural to want to make her scream, one way or another.

"Then try Harry. _Hurt me!" _Bella purred, though her voice carried an undertone of command.

"_As you wish." _Harry replied in the tongue of serpents as he gathered his wandless energies together and focused them through this still bleeding shoulder wound, "_Curcio!" _He screamed, pushing his power to the limits as he wandless cast the Unforgivable.

Bella screamed, pleasure and pain sounding in her voice as she dropped the dagger and rolled off of Harry to begin writing on the ground in agony. Harry advanced on her, not bothering to reclaim his wand or the knife. This was so much better, so much more _personal _somehow to cast the spell wandlessly.

Just as he reached her prone form she somehow managed to strike back, hurling a wandless _Agno_ and sending him to the ground as well, trying to fight back the pain. She was only able to hold the burst for the briefest moment before her magic reserves gave out under the incredible strain of casting a near-unforgivable wandlessly.

Seizing on her brief advantage she lunged at him. Potter had put an idea in her head and it seemed to good to pass up. Sex and violence were just the way to feed the call of her raging bloodlust, to keep the cold of the dementors which never fully left her at bay.

**A/N: If you are offended by violent sex please stop reading now, and I will see you again next chapter**

His fist met her halfway through her leap, but she ignored it, moving with the punch to somehow still land on top of him. her nails raked across his back savagely, drawing blood and a pleased giggle from Bella that was muffled a moment latter as she bit down hard on his shoulder.

Harry moaned in pain as she tightened the grip of her nails and teeth. If this was the game Bella wanted to play he would play it. Grabbing a hold of her hair he yanked her off of him in one sharp motion and threw her hard against the wall where she impacted with a sickening thud. Advancing before she could recover her wits he grabbed her once again and slammed her bodily against the wall hard enough to bring a rain of plaster down on her head. Again and again he slammed her backwards against it, reveling the purely physical pain he was finally inflicting on Bella. This was for Ron, his Ron, His Sirius, His Hermione.

Somewhere in amidst the blows Bella had managed to wrap her legs around him and dig her nails once more into her back. He didn't let her new grip stop him as he slammed them both into the wall, reveling in the harsh cough as the air was knocked from her lungs.

Drawing desperate gasps Bella looked up at him with pure lust and madness shining in her eyes. "_Hurt me." _She managed to croak before biting him hard again, tearing the flesh away from his shoulder with a vicious moan of pleasure.

The wound in his shoulder burned with a pleasant fire as he fulfilled her wish, throwing her on the ground and delivering a stinging kick to her ribs before following her down. His greater weight pinned her down even as she tore at him for all his worth, screaming in what he couldn't tell was pleasure or pain.

Despite her savage fight he managed to line himself up and enter with one hard thrust, sliding far too easily into the struggling witch for her to not be enjoying any moment of this. Slamming her head into the ground with a free hand he started a savage rhythm, moving not to please but to hurt.

Once again their subconscious magic lashed out blindly, striking each other with bursts of fire, pleasure and pain. The very air seemed to writhe and moan as Harry pressed on, prolonging the end as long as possible, taking pleasure in each second of Bella's pain.

Bella meanwhile unleashed the last of her physical and magical reserves at him, needed to hurt Harry even as he hurt her, neither alone were enough. Hot magic surged and both their fiery blood splashed in her mouth and on her face even as the heat from his body and his magic slammed into her from above.

This was what she lived for. The heat to hold back the coldness, the death that was Azkaban. She felt the end coming, felt his magic and body strain even as she did the same. Her body convulsed, a scream of pure pleasure ripped from her throat a moment before Harry echoed her cry and went limp.

The lay there, too exhausted to move, their black blood sated amidst the ruins of a house shredded by their battle. Bella could think of nothing better in any world they could possibly find. Harry was hers. His hatred, his power, his lust. Everything she wanted from the her green eyed nemesis was hers now. Hers to fight, hers to hate and hers to hold. No mudblood was ever going to touch her things again.


	19. Interlude 2: Across the Veil, Beyond the

A/N: Sorry about the rather long period since the last update: real life and the worst case of writer's block I have ever had conspired to keep this chapter from happening for quite a while. Still, I have high hopes that I can get back to a slightly more regular update schedule in the foreseeable future.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who read and **reviewed**this story. It really motivated me to keep hammering at the block and finally get this thing done. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 19: Interlude 2: Across the Veil, Beyond the Grave

Amelia sat alone in her office, head pillowed wearily atop her desk. Around her countless dark detectors and alarms rang, their shrill music doing nothing to relieve her pounding headache. The alarms should have summoned the entire auror command to arms, should have left her in a frenzy of activity preparing to repel whatever new scheme the dissident elements of wizard kind had drawn up.

Instead it had simply left her wandlessly throwing a silencing charm over the office. She would not sacrifice any more of her aurors. She couldn't afford to. Already her iron grip was weakening. She heard mutters among the men who had once been hers to the death when they thought she was not paying attention.

Too many deaths, too many unexplained black-opps gone horribly wrong. She had badly misjudged the newest entrants to her war with Dumbledore, thinking that Potter and Black were simple tools she could use to whittle away the old man's forces until he was no match for her.

The ruins of Azkaban and whatever carnage she would find at the Granger house gave lie to that idea. They were not tools. They were walking bombs, a plague that consumed and destroyed anything they touched.

Still, she would not give up, not forsake her accentors and end this private war against the bane of her family while there was still breath left in her. Yes this was just another set back. She could recover. The old man had been hurt too.

For now though she had to reign in her aurors and re-secure her power within the ministry. Fudge was on the way down over Potter and Black even if he didn't even know they existed yet, she needed to make sure that he did not drag her down with him.

Plans needed to be accelerated. She could no longer wait for Dumbledore to be neutralized before moving. The chance of her death was too great. She had no illusions, if Potter and Black came seeking her the entire auror command stood little chance of stopping them.

Her family's dream could not be allowed to die with her. She was the last with the knowledge; the last with the power and the will to see it through. She loved her niece, but Susan was too soft by half to be entrusted with the Bones' family legacy.

Rising slowly from her chair Amelia took one last look around her office before turning and walking with determination into the Floo. No words were needed from her. This particular fireplace was only capable of going one place: The Bones family manor. There, deep within the catacombs waited her family's deadly secret, their greatest legacy.

Nearly a hundred feet below the ground, in the deepest and most heavily warded reaches of the manor there lurked the patriarch of her family, the immortal remains of the greatest necromancer in the last thousand years. There he lay, bidding his time, trapped halfway between life and death until his descendants called him forth once more to battle against the man who laid him low. It was time for the Lord Bones to rise. It was time for Dumbledore to die.

* * *

Had she lingered but a moment longer in her office Amelia may have been diverted from her course. Not an instant after she left one final alarm echoed shrilly, baying futilely against the silencing charms she had erected around the office. Someone had breached the Department of Mysteries it screamed: someone was in the death chamber, and someone was doing _something _to the veil.

That someone stood unconcerned before the veil of death, her brown eyes locked into its depths and casually ignoring the bodies of her one-time coworkers strewn about the room. They deserved it. They had tried to stop her. Tired to deny her what this perverse world _owed _her.

She would have him back. Soon. Already her carefully developed spell was reaching through the veil. Reaching into the very realm of the dead and cheating dark Hades' power. Of course there was no Hades. He was a muggle myth nothing more, but she had been fond of the symbolism from her early childhood reading and there was no harm in indulging such a mild flight of fancy.

Beside her a perfect copy of Harry Potter lay inert. That had been the one decent thing to come of the imposter's presence. Before she would have had to content herself with the fourth year body she could have constructed from memory. That would have made certain things awkward.

Still, the problem had been fixed by the imposter's pleasant demonstration of just what an older Harry would look like. The construction of the simulcron had been simple from there, requiring less than a week's worth of diligent modification of the polyjuice potion and a body one of the dying auror's had been kind enough to donate.

No, it was all set now. Even as she watched her spell latched onto the soul she had carefully identified as Harry's. Of course there were slight distortions, but that was to be expected with more than a decade of death taking its toll. Besides, if by some horrible chance she was wrong measures had been taken to insure against a repeat of the last disaster.

One way or another this would be her Harry. Thirty-seven spells imparting everything from her perfect recall of Harry's personality to own her memories of recent events and spell knowledge. His loyalty, power and _love _were guaranteed. Now all she had to do was wait. Once she had him back the imposter and his pureblooded bitch would pay.

* * *

Across the veil a soul stirred as it felt a strange force begin to pull it against the impenetrable wall that kept the dead from the realm of the living. If it was capable of it the soul would have screamed in agony. Pain. Beyond anything it thought it had known blasted its senses. And then the pain was gone and it, no not it: _he_ was soaring free.

_My faithful have come through at last. _The soul of Lord Voldemort thought as it continued its flight towards the realm of the living. Another barrier loomed, and he braced himself for impact, hoping that his servant had not made a mistake. He had not lived this long, endured such pain beyond the realm of the living to have his essence erased and reprogrammed like some common muggle.

A moment later and he was through the first barrier, memories intact. _I shall have to reward Rabstain mightily. _Voldemort had time to think before he slammed headlong into the second barrier. This one did not simply give way like the first. Instead it seemed to envelope him, pushing against his very being as foreign thoughts and emotions bombarded him.

Even without the erasure barrier this should have destroyed him for all intents and purposes. Should have left him as some new and far less malevolent being. But he was Lord Voldemort: he was the flight from death. He had fought too long and too hard to be beaten now so close to making his final escape from the underworld.

Struggling with all his immortal might, Voldemort's soul preserved itself against the onslaught: lashing out with a will strengthened by ten years locked in endless battles with mind destroying pain. The barrier seemed to ripple and writhe before his onslaught, unused to its victim's fighting back.

For a moment he thought he had won as the barrier began to recede, but then a second wave, somehow different from the first slammed into him. Caught by surprise several slivers from the second attack managed to jam themselves into his soul before he mustered his will and fought back furiously.

His struggles seemed endless. These second invaders were not so easily discouraged as the first. They had gained a foothold and would not be denied. Thoughts and images not his own bombarded him. Impure thoughts. Thoughts that burned his blackened soul to the core

_Innocent wonder at his first sight of Hogwarts. _Wrong all wrong. His had been a feeling of hope, a desperate soul aching wish that here, at last, he would find a home.

_Fear. Fear for another as he watched a troll raise a gigantic club to crush a small girl into a bloody pulp. _He was Lord Voldemort. He knew no fear for others, he cared nothing for their pain.

_Lust as he stared a brown haired girl who seemed hauntingly familiar. _He had known lust in the past of course, but not for this girl. Not for anyone save those who served as paths to power or demonstrations of what might he already possessed.

On the heels of the memories came knowledge. Spells he knew and spells he had never dreamed existed, lodging themselves firmly in his mind besides the old favorites of _Crucio _and _Avada Kedevra._

Again and again he turned back what he could, not stopping to contemplate what damage the tiny shards that leaked through might do. His soul trembled to the breaking point as more and more shards slipped through his guard: saturating him until he could take no more. A hair's breath before he was sure his very essence would shatter into metaphysical dust the assault stopped as suddenly as it had started.

For a moment there was blessed peace before once again his soul was hurtling forward. For a fleeting instant he saw a great darkness rise up before him, _the veil, _before, with a blinding flash he was through it.

He stirred. _Stirred! Ah how sweet the mortal sensation after all these years! _He stirred again, simply to reaffirm that he could, before slowly rising on limbs that seemed not the least bit harmed by his long stay in the netherworld. _I will have to thank Rabstin for finding such an excellent body. _Voldemort thought with a grim smile as he flexed each of his limbs in turn.

The power in his new muscles was nothing compared to the unnatural might he had wielded back at the height of his power, but that was nothing a simple dark ritual could not correct. For now he was content simply to _have _muscles. To feel them stretch and ripple underneath young taunt skin.

He wondered idly what he looked like now. Had Rabastin managed to somehow create a copy of his original body or would he now wear a stranger's guise? There was only one way to find out. Savoring every slow moment Lord Voldemort slowly opened his eyes fully for the first time in ten years.

The sight that greeted him was not at all what he expected.

* * *

Hermione was beyond furious. First the unspeakables had tried to stop her from taking what was her right back from beyond the veil. Then, they had the utter gall to try to disrupt her just as the extraction process reached its most critical phase. It seems that she had not managed to kill one of her former coworkers nearly as throughly as she had thought, as the man had somehow triggered an internal alarm within the Department of Mysteries.

So far her luck had held and the aurors had not responded as well, but it was only a matter time and the ten unspeakables currently battering at her hastily erected wards were far more of a distraction than she wanted.

Indeed, already the procedure had proved unexpectedly difficult as the soul seemed to resist her attempts to insure its purity through an alteration in the rewriting section of the barrier. Still, she had preserved while studiously ignoring the hammer of spellfire in the distance. Inch by inch she had pushed closer to her goal, overcoming whatever stubborn resistance the other side of the veil was throwing in her path.

She had almost finished the procedure when the wards fell with a deafening 'clang,' forcing her to abruptly end her attempts at purification and just bring the soul through the veil. She would just have to hope it had been enough. It had to be. The universe owed her.

She had no further time to contemplate the extent of Fate's debt to her as the unspeakables took her momentary distraction as an open invitation to launch an attack. Fortunately for her they were not any more truly combat trained than she and lacked any real coordination in their efforts.

Bolts of raw magic power laced at her from the entrance of the room, trailing like miniature comets as they seemed to compete to reach her first. Taking a lesson from watching the imposter demolish the Order fighters, Hermione didn't bother to deflect the spells and instead shot herself straight upwards with a strong banisher.

Again imitating the imposter she didn't give them time to try a second effort as she went on the offensive, ancient sadomagic racing from her wand in a deadly purple cloud. Three of the unspeakibles screamed, their pain: their pureblooded arrogant pain a wonderful sound in her ears. Of course they might not have all been purebloods: the Department of Mysteries had never been a particular strong hold of those politics, but the fact they might have been was enough for her. She needed to hear those who thought they were better than her: who thought Harry should die: who thought she couldn't have him, scream.

The remaining unspeakibles frantically attacked as their comrades writhed in soul destroying pain, sending a hail of elemental curses to blast her from her ariel perch. Once again however their lack of coordination hurt them as she simply banished herself down, hitting the ground in an awkward roll as her unathletic body balked at performing a maneuver Bella had made look so simple.

Groaning at the impact Hermione forced herself back to her feet, whirling her wand in a complicated pattern as she tapped ancient necromantic powers uncovered in her frantic quest to restore Harry's life to twists the very substance of the veil to her will.

It came at her call, spilling from the arch like some monstrous serpent before lashing out at the remaining unspeakables too quickly for the eye to follow. Two of them fell soundlessly, disappearing form this world as the hungry realm of death swallowed them whole. The others were faster than their ill fated companions and scattered before the assault, haphazardly rolling about the room as they did so.

Two of the remaining five managed to come up firing: the anger at the death of their comrades clear as malevolent beams of crimson and purple lashed out from their wands, seeking to shred her bones and boil the blood from her veins.

She didn't try to dodge this time as the throbbing in her lower extremities from the earlier dive warned against any such attempt. Instead she stood fast, transfiguring the floor in front of her into a beautiful crystal shield that seemed to ripple with inner light.

Averting her eyes quickly Hermione was able to put the final touches on the shield ,a spell favored by the ancient Atlantean war wizards in mass magical combat to such an extent that Diamen the Strange was rumored to have offered a prize of more than ten million gold coins and a bound succubus to the man able to devise a counter. The results of her efforts appeared a moment latter as the two spells were absorbed with a blinding flash that left the unspeakables reeling and groping frantically for some spell to cure their suddenly singed retinas.

Showing no mercy Hermione pressed her advantage: lashing out with some of the more lethal transfiguration she had picked up over the years as throats and lungs vanished from her enemies in a series of wet pops.

Silence fell over the room as the last unspeakable was separated from his lungs, leaving Hermione standing alone in the center of the room, panting for breath. All around her nothing stirred save for the last, pathetic twitches of the two men whose minds and souls and been burned to ash under the pain of the _Necran Demaritam _curse.

For a moment she simply stood there, too exhausted and stunned by her victory to form coherent thought. Battle was nothing like she had thought. Her only real prior experience had been a few abortive duels with Order members too stupid to know the counter to the first spell out of her wand.

The fight earlier that day with the aurors had been more of an ambush than a true fight, as the imposter had showed up to destroy her opponent mere moments after her invisibility spell was finally countered.

This, this however had been a real battle. The furious exchange of spells she had read so much about: had seen the imposter and his bitch perform not more than five hours ago in the field in front of her house.

While she was pleased at her survival a faint shiver slid through her form as her analytical mind began to compare the two fights. They were far deadlier than she had given them credit for. Already she saw how much more difficult killing them would be in open combat. The fools in front of her had simply tried to rush her with no thought to their own defense or strategy.

Those two moved as a single organism: launching precisely controlled attacks that left their enemies dead or crippled too quickly for any counter attack to form.

It would be a long road before she was ready to fight them, but with her Harry back she would find a way. After all: she was Hermione Granger. She had raised the dead: it was only a matter of time and research until she found a way around this intractable problem as well.

_Raised the dead_..._Shit! _Hermione thought frantically as she spun around the room looking for Harry: hoping against hope that he had not been injured in the exchange, especially her reckless use of the veil serpent when his body had been so near the arch.

Her hopes were fulfilled a moment latter as she finally spotted him, leaning dangerously against the arch way of the veil with a puzzled expression on his face as he regarded her. _Oh no. Did I alienate him with that show of violence? No, no that's not possible: the first of the purificiation spells should insure he cannot won't feel that way towards me and I am certain that at least that one got through before the interruptions. _Hermione thought with relief as she slowly walked towards Harry, arms outstretched with intent to welcome him back to the world of the living with a hug from his best friend.

* * *

Lord Voldemort regarded the scene before his freshly opened eyes with something just short of total confusion. Instead of Rabastin he had found himself watching ten unspeakables attack the same strange brown-haired girl he had glimpsed in his trip back through the veil.

Was she one of his death eaters? A new fanatic recruited after his second death? It was possible. Perhaps this was the new incarnation of Bella Rabastin had spoken of. No. That wasn't likely, he thought as he watched the battle unfold. While her spells, especially the _Necran Demaritam_ curse, were delightfully vicious the style was all wrong. She fought like an unspeakable, not a sadist and that alone was enough to know it was not his queen of pain.

Pity. It meant that the rumors Bella had abandoned him for another might well be true.

Still there was nothing to do but wait. It seemed as though she had the battle well in hand and he would rather gauge the strength of this unknown than attempt to enter the battle wandlessly without first testing the extent of his capabilities in this new chance at life.

Making himself comfortable against the stony arch of the veil Voldemort patiently waited for the battle to end so he could interrogate his rescuer. His chance came a moment latter as the brown-haired witch felled the last unspeakable with a delightful piece of transfiguration and stood panting in the middle of the room.

He considered approaching her, but he was Lord Voldemort: she could come to him. He had, after all, learned more than enough patience waiting beyond the veil. Slowly the girl seemed to recover her wits and begin searching the room for him. Her eyes took on a strange spark as they lighted on him.

He returned her gaze with a neutral, puzzled expression. He would give nothing away. _Let her make the first move, let her intent be known _his well practiced mind thought as he calmly slid back into the comfortable routine of plot and counter plot that had defined his life for so many years as he commanded the death eaters against the wizard world.

Her initial move was puzzling as she walked towards him with arms outstretched. Perhaps she merely meant to show that she was training a wand on him. A wise gesture.

Still she did not seem to lower her arms even as she crossed the comfortable line of personal conversation space without saying a word. _Strange. _Perhaps the girl was mute and trying to communicate through some strange type of sign language. He had seen odder things in his travels.

It was only when she suddenly closed the reaming distance between them and wrapped her arms around him that he realized something was wrong.This was too strange. She clearly meant to grab him, as she had not let go or loosened her hold in the slightest. Yet for a confinement tactic her approach was so bad it could not be intended to work.

Her arms were wrapped around his mid section and she had actually placed her body up against his: leaving his own arms free to cause her harm if he so desired. Perhaps this was some strange show of submission?

His musings were interrupted a moment latter as the girl final spoke, "Harry, finally, I have you back."

_Harry? _Yes, something was definitely wrong.


	20. Meetings

Chapter 20 Meetings:

A/N: There's no good reason this chapter took a year. Thanks as always to everyone who has taken the time to read and review this story.

Lucius causally sipped a thumb's length of three hundred year old wizard scotch, savoring the bite which came from being aged in the belly of Chinese Fireball as he contemplated his next move. There was no official word on the battle he had left behind in the _Prophet_ of course and all that his few remaining informants in the Ministry could tell him was that Amelia was fuming over the loss of yet more of her aurors.

Still, as much as Amelia's discomfort amused him, the silence surrounding Potter and Black was more troubling than he we would have liked to admit. In hindsight his plan to dispose of the two may have been a little rash by his usual standards, but Bella's presence in has manor had been quite frankly driving him mad. Malfoys did not cower. The image of his line, not to mention his own dignity had to be preserved.

Even if the two mad dimensional travelers had somehow survived each other precautions were in place. Half a dozen house elves _imperoed _preform suicide attacks on unauthorized guests with canisters of exploding potions combined with the formidably wards of the Manor itself to dispose of anyone arriving with hostile intent.

Still, he worried it wouldn't stop them. If they could survive each other he was beginning to despair that there was any power on earth that could stand up to the insane pair. The ease with which Bella bested him had been disturbing. The massacre the pair had effected upon the isle of Azkaban had been nothing short of terrifying. If she and the supposed Potter brat had come through this latest ambush he would have to seriously contemplate a permanent retirement to somewhere warmer and under the protection of at least three _Fidelous_ charms. Even a Malfoy knew when the circumstances called for an expeditious retreat.

Lucius was broken from his contemplations as he felt the wards pulse briefly, indicating that two people had crossed the boundary without the defenses feeling the need to exercise lethal force. _Probably that idiot son of mine and his wife back from their holiday in France. It truly is a pity that the wards are based on the family tapestry and not the actual blood of those seeking entrance. Merlin knows I never actually allowed that crooked-nosed bitch to add the Malfoy blood to her veins._

He shifted slightly uncomfortably at the sacrilege he had committed against his ancestors by sabotaging the ritual. Still, they would understand. He had guaranteed the continuance of the line with a few strategically placed bastard children from minor pureblood families and Sapiens Malfoy would prefer the slight dishonor of illegitimacy to that loathsome couple taking up the banner of his name.

Just as he was about to rise from his chair to greet the unfortunate product of his line Lucius was stilled by a second pulse of the wards. _Impossible_. _The bastards aren't on the tapestry and there is not another being in this world who should have been able to get past those wards. _Lucius thought with growing unease as he swiftly disillusioned himself and slipped from the study through a secret passage behind the fireplace.

Stalking the halls with silent grace aided by both long practice and charmed boots Lucius slowly made his way towards the third floor where the wards indicated this strange intruder had come to rest. Stopping outside the door to the lessor family sitting room, which currently housed the intruder, Lucius paused to cast a quick sobering charm before evaluating his options.

There were three unknowns in his house. Two of them had arrived together. By the grace of Merlin he hoped the pair had been his son and Pansy and not Potter and Black. Assuming for a moment that it was his son and the brat's wife who caused the first disturbance that meant one of the deadly pair probably awaited him beyond the door.

Briefly he considered simply fleeing before discarding the notion. He had adequate means of escape if it was one of the pair who overmatched him. If it wasn't one them, well he wasn't about to abandon his ancestral manner without a fight.

Gathering himself for a long moment Lucius expelled a deep breath before settling back into his favored dueling stance and launching a chain blasting curse at the door to the sitting room. Timed to allow just enough lag between the first and second activations for the debris of the door get out of the way a huge the curse rocked through the door and tore into the room with a massive blast even as he charged forward in its wake.

Within the dust of the shattered chamber he found himself face to face with a wand he thought he would never see again pointed straight between his eyes. Connected to the wand was the long, elegant arm of his very dusty, very annoyed wife.

"Hello Lucius, its nice to see you too." Narcissia growled as the dust from his violent entrance continued to rain down on the two of them unnoticed.

* * *

Harry stirred slowly, wondering which one of the Weasly twins he would have to _Curcio_ for feeding him enough fire whiskey to cause his current headache. _Crucio_, _shit_. Harry thought with a resigned sigh as the torture curse linked his mind back to the events of the last few hours.

Opening his eyes against his better judgement Harry found exactly what he had desperately hoped was the product of some hallucination curse. Though he doubted that even Hermione, his Hermione, knew of one vile enough to create the impression of shagging the brains out of your worst enemy in the house of an alternative version of your best friend.

Mad violet eyes looked straight back at him. Those eyes which had haunted his dreams for the whole of his adult life now gazed down at him, while the body they were attached to cuddled, _cuddled, _with his naked form.

"Bugger."

"Feeling frisky already Potter?" Bella shot back with a far too satisfied purr in her voice.

"Aren't we the kinky one?" He shot back, wiggling his eyebrows even as he absently began to charge a wandless _Crucio_. Just in case. Though which case he wasn't entirely sure.

"You've been romping with mudbloods far too long if you think that is kinky Potter. Bring me the blood of four newborn muggle children and I'll show you what a pureblood can do." Bella drawled even as she also began to charge her wandless magic. An _Agno _spell, just in case he felt up for round two.

"Bella, I think someone needs to have a long talk with you about appropriate after-sex conversations. Or perhaps just about conversations in general."

"Aww, is ickle Harry scared by the big, bad, witch? You damned Griffs never do have the stomach for anything interesting" Bella simpered

"Bella?"

"Yes?

"_Crucio!" _Harry screamed as he unleashed the unforgivable, reveling in the cackling play of dark magic as it poured through his entire body.

Bella was thrown from her perch atop him by the sheer force of the spell. She twisted through the air, screaming in delicious agony that reignited the bloodlust lurking within his Black blood. It called him one more to battle, purring promises of pain and death in his ear as he advanced on the writhing dark witch.

Some small part of him cried out against the tide, trying to pull the golden boy back one final time into the light. He crushed it. His choice was made. Truly it had been long before, but he had not the sense to realize it. _Rest now my Hermione, I am the flame. _He thought somewhere against the maelstrom. A single island of calm amidst the madness that engulfed him.

Bella struck back somehow from the midst of her agony, once more hurling her wandless _Agno _curse at him, shattering the concentration required to maintain the unforgivable. He rolled with the curse, allowing the pain to feed into the mad frenzy which consumed his mind. Visions of their earlier tryst swam through his mind. He wanted it again. More and forever.

He raised his hand, wandlessly yanking both dagger and wand back into his grasp. Bella did the same, her bloodstained face bared in a rictus of insanity. They circled each other, two predators who instinctively knew the others every move. The air crackled between them, charging with the raw sadomantic energies which bled from their auras.

A moment before they burst into fresh combat, the room was shattered by a pair of echoing pops as two robed figures apparrated in through the now-destroyed wards.

There was a moment of stunned silence as the two pairs regarded each other in uncomprehending shock. Finally Bella broke the silence, her amused cackling cutting through the room, "Polyjuice and shagging a mudblood eh? That hooker's hazard pay must be outrageous Granger."

* * *

Lord Voldemort, or Harry as he was now apparently known, looked on the scene before him with no small amount of confusion. The state of undress of Bella and what looked like his new body's twin would make him think he had caught the two _Inflagre delicto, _but the bared weapons, numerous bloodstains and total destruction of the surrounding area did make him wonder. Still, with Bella his first guess was probably right.

Looking over to his erstwhile resurrector , and trying desperately to squash the strange fuzzy feeling that always seemed to accompany such a glance he noted her reaction was anything but one of curiosity. She seethed with rage, shaking with the strength of her fury.

Clearly this one had a less than pleasant history with his queen of pain. Bella always did bring out the worst in people. Still, given that she had turned traitor there was no harm in mirroring his companions reactions for now. Besides, he had all these lovely new spells swimming around his head that just begged to be unleashed upon an opportune traitor.

Twirling the wand he had stolen from one of the less exploded unspeakables, he readied one that he had already acquired a particular fondness for: the spleen crusher. Not at all practical, but the memories he had of the bile spray it produced made him willing to give it a try. Beside, he had bested Bella before: he was Lord Voldemort, he had returned from beyond the grave itself, how much of a problem could fighting these two really be?

* * *

Harry watched Hermione quiver with rage at Bella's remark and with a small sigh calmed the Black blood lust to a level that would allow him to do more in a fight than try to channel as much dark magic into the enemy as possible. Hermione, even this one, was far too smart of an opponent for that to be a viable strategy.

He felt a moment's pang as he slowly turned his wand away from Bella and towards Hermione and the strange copy of him that had appeared along with her. He doubted Bella's assessment of the situation: this Hermione was so damned reclusive he seriously doubted she would go in for a polyjuiced whore. Besides, unless she had taken far greater offense at his protection of her from the last battle than he imagined there was no reason for her to believe that she could not have the real thing. No, something was badly wrong here.

Any further thoughts he might have had on the matter were interrupted as Hermione screamed "Shut up you pureblood bitch!" finally having settled her rage enough to form words. "I have breeched the veil itself! I have conquered death! You can keep that wretched imposter, I have the real Harry now!"

Bella merely cackled harder in response, twirling her wand in time to the mad laughter as she regarded Hermione with twisted amusement. "Aww listen to that Potter, the mudblood brought me a present! I've always wanted to kill you!"

"I'm shocked Bella, you hid it so well." Harry drawled back as he cautiously shifted his wand between the three other occupants of the room: He wouldn't put it past Bella to 'forget' which Harry she was supposed to be fighting.

For better or worse the insane witch seemed to recall the side she was one, and lashed out with a lightning quick _Curcio_ against the second Harry. The imposter, clone or whatever else might have been conceived in Hermione's mind, dodged the attack with a fluid grace that while impressive, lagged pathetically behind that of the true Harry. Still, his lack of agility probably saved his life as Bella's next spell, an Egyptian Acid hex, flew wide as she overestimated the imposters skill, aiming where her Harry would have ended up after the first attack.

"I think you must have damaged his brain with the resurrection Granger, that was pathetic even for a Potter." Bella taunted as she unleashed a new firestorm of sadomancy at the imposter.

Hermione purpled with rage at the comment and answered back with her own spells, sending pulsing bolts of crimson and yellow fire hurtling towards Bella. The fusillade hammered the already damaged walls as Bella spun easily out of the way, sending ominous 'creaks' through the house.

Harry watched the two witches fight with detached interest. The outcome of course was a foregone conclusion: Hermione, even his Hermione, was no match for Bella in a magical brawl. If this had been his old world he would have already joined the fray, desperate to keep his best friend from falling before the witch who had already devastated both of their lives.

But this was not his world. Dark magic pumped in his veins in time to the exchange, Black magic calling to Black blood. He had been a fool to think it could have been otherwise. He let it wash over him, let his mind become lost in the surging tide of corrupted magic. He wanted to dance on the grave of the world, wanted to romp with Bella across the fabric of this sad reality until it rang with a thousand, thousand screams.

Some small part of him knew it should not be like this. He should be fighting the dark witch, defending Hermione, defending the innocent. It wondered, he wondered, how things had come to this; hours before he was still a creature of the light, tainted yes but still fighting for what was right.

_Then you learned. Then you realized. There is no right. It is all madness, all death. Revel in it, revel in what you are. _Hermione's ghostly voice mingled with his own as it spoke the words of damnation once more.

Without right, without purpose there was nothing to hold him back, nothing to stop him from taking anything and everything he desired from this world. Had Bella known it all along? Was she the first to truth or the first to madness? Was there a difference?

_I wish Hermione was here, she would know. _Harry thought absently, chuckling somewhere in the depths of his mind at the irony of the statement. Hermione was here, Hermione as she was before. Oh for certain she was angry, bitter and hurt: but her soul was still there, she still believed in a world with right, with _good._

Sleeping with Bella had stripped him of any last delusions that he was capable of such a thing. There was no love there, only power and obsession. Neither of them knew meaning anymore so they grabbed onto the first other thing which kept them from the madness of an empty world, the sucking abyss of despair and death which consumed those who lacked the spark of purpose.

He knew that they had not found a new purpose, a new meaning or a new right. No, they had simply discovered the fiery warmth of black magic to draw about them, a cloak of pretense. Dance the dance of the damned because if you stop you'll realize there is nothing beneath you; you will stare down into the depths and know you are lost.

Spells seemed to pour forth from his wand of its own accord as he turned from his musings to fight the strange clone that bore his visage if not, he was sure, his mad lot in life. The double fought back against the deluge with a style far different from any he expected a copy of himself to employ.

The archmage grip was the same, although the double had substituted a Nebecanezzar shift in place of the pure, Flamel doctrine. The two grips were nearly identical, but the slight rightward tilt of the Nebecanezzar allowed quicker access to soul and blood magics at the expense of their elemental counterparts.

While the grips were similar enough for him to write it off as a minor variance of no consequence, the stance left him no such option. While he normally employed a slight variant on the classic Malfoy stance, the double was using a style he had only ever seen employed by the dark lord himself.

It was a deep variant on the Le Fay configuration, which was designed to attack multiple enemies at once, sacrificing a narrow profile for sheer destructive power. It was a long range stance and nearly suicidal to employ against a skilled duelist.

The variant by contrast was a two-part stance. It kept the wide open Le Fay configuration, but narrowed the feet and shifted the balance to increase mobility. Because of the increased maneuverability, the stance could 'close,' narrowing its profile to nearly that of a standard dueling stance while still maintaining easy access to the more open and more destructive starting form.

_I wonder if this Harry was secretly a death eater. _Harry thought as he continued to study the stance amidst the chaos of the battle. _Poor Hermione, she's going to be in for yet another rude shock._

* * *

Lord Voldemort fought for his life. His opponent, the dark archmage Rudolphus had warned him about no doubt, was far beyond any he had ever fought. The stranger combined speed nearly equal to that of Bella with raw power that at least matched his own. More than that however his opponent's skills had clearly been honed to a razor edge: every spell motion was perfect, no magical power was wasted or lost as the man seemed to dance through the battle.

Chancing a quick gaze over at his companion he realized no help was coming from that quarter. The slight, brunette witch, _my beloved Hermione _his mind supplied, was barely staying one step ahead of a painful death at Bella's hands. Cascades of sadomagic sprang from his queen of pain, sending Hermione ever backwards as she struggled to shield each new assault.

Battling down the instincts which demanded he spring to her aid Lord Voldemort refocused his attention on the fight before him, hurling a quick trio of soul flaying curses followed by one of the ingenious lung-vanisher hexes which had been stuffed in his mind during the resurrection. The combination bought him a half second at most, as the dark archmage skillfully raised a silver shield to ward off all four curses before counterattacking savagely with a quick spread of anti-dragon piercing curses.

He was forced to abandon his stance as the first one shattered his shield into glittering pieces. Rolling under the next two he tried to find an opening, but his opponent had not let up in the slightest, showcasing near impossible magical stamina as he continued his assualt, hurling globes of black-magic fire.

_This is impossible! I cannot be defeated! I am Lord Voldemort! Who is this petty boy to think that he can challenge my power? I must still be feeling the effects of the resurrection. Yes. That's it: I'll regroup and return when my powers have swelled to their appropriate majesty._

Decided, he spun away from the last black fire orb and prepared to apparateaway. His plan was thwarted by a horrendous tugging from his mind, _I can't leave beloved Hermione!_ It screamed at him, nearly costing him his head from the momentary distraction.

He hadn't want to believe it before, but this gave him no choice: the slight witch had clearly meddled in his mind! He would have to find a way to remove it. No one shackled Lord Voldemort!

Still, for now, if he wanted to escape long enough to regain his full strength he was going to need to get her out of here with him. Searching deep through his spells, both new and old he at last arrived at a desperate plan.

Throwing up a dark aegis shield he took the momentary cover it provided him and drew deep on his magic reserves, hurling them outward in a blast of raw energy. In the confined space of the house the results were chaos, as all four combatants were hurled away from the detonation.

Hermione landed with a wet thud against the far wall, sliding bonelessly down it unconcious while Bella and the dark archmage faired far better, banishing themselves against the blast in midair and landing gently ten meters from their prior position.

It was far from an ideal result, but the spell had bought him enough space to gracefully withdraw with beloved Hermione. Bitting down the annoyance with the witch for tampering with his mind Voldemort hurled a summoning spell at her prone form and apparated away the moment she made contact.

He would let Bella and her pet arch mage have this moment. Let them think they had won, but he was the flight from death: there was no way they could stand against him once he regained his full powers.


End file.
